A pretty face can hide an evil mind
by Kirikouchan
Summary: AU Yaoi LxRaito. Raito is blackmailed by none other than Kira into doing his bidding. How can L stand in between? Will he uncover Raito's past? How far would you go to save the one you love? Would you kill? Would you fight? Would you die trying?
1. Prologue

AN: This is my second story ever created, the first one being a SasuNaru story. I'm a major Death Note fan and decided to try writing a fanfic of my own -   
Anyways. The first several chapters will be somewhat of a prologue side-story. I was thinking about releasing it as a seperated story, but then the LxRaito topic I love so much wouldn't be in it...that and it's easier for the readers  
As you probably guessed from the summary, Kira is a person on his own.  
In other words Raito is NOT Kira.

As for the Prologue chapters. The (temporary) main character mentioned in them is none other then the main Character of the Death Note one shot and is therefor NOT an OC. I have taken liberties with his personality though!

As soon as the prologue chapters are over, Raito will mostly take over as the main character.

This idea has been haunting me for quite some time now and it just demanded to be written 

Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note and am not making money on this.  
Other manga refferences (Boys Next Door, Goth, Loveless) are not owned by me either.

Warnings!:  
It doesn't really need to be said on AFF but it does on FF, but this fic contains major adult themes. A lot of those themes involve death. (Well duhh...DEATH Note XP)It also features the pairing L(dom)xRaito(sub) and is a major AU! Don't like? Don't read!  
The FFnet version will be slightly censored though!

This having been said, I hope you'll enjoy my new fic!

A pretty face can hide an evil mind

Chapter – Prologue "Early beginnings…"

Smoke and screaming…

That was the first thing you woke up to.

Smoke, screaming and this foul stench of burning rubber and something you can't seem to identify…

Sirens…in the distance.

More screaming…so much screaming…

Mommy is there, right in front of you.

Daddy is nowhere to be seen…

You try to get a grip on your mothers hand, but the red stuff makes it slippery.

'Red paint?'

That's right….you're too young to understand.

Too young to understand that the strange smell is that of burning flesh.

Too young to understand mommy can't help you anymore…can't hear you anymore…

Too young to understand that daddy is right in front of you…splattered across what was once the front window of the car you were sitting in…

More sirens, people calling out for 'survivors'.

'Survivors? Survivors of what?'

Too young to understand what a lucky boy you are…

Have you any idea what has happened here today?

How many people have died?

No?

You only know your head hurts and mommy isn't listening…or moving.

She just keeps staring.

You figure mommy and daddy must be mad at you, that you were a bad boy again.

Suddenly a pair of strong arms pull you out of the car.

Away from mommy and daddy.

You don't belong here little boy…this is a scene of death where the living have no place.

These arms you're trying to escape from, they are the only thing keeping you from joining that world. But you're too young to understand that.

People are crying, calling out names of people you've never heard of before.

You don't understand why it is they're upset.

Perhaps they know you've been a bad boy too?

Then you wonder why no one is crying out your name…

You look around you at a scene that will one day come back to haunt you. A day when you're old enough to understand…

Fire everywhere…along with that red paint.

There's a little girl on the ground, she seems to be about your age.

You wonder how it's possible that her legs are way over there while her chest is al the way over here.

The little girl fades away in the distance, as does the car you had been sitting in.

A blanket is wrapped around you.

What a lucky boy you are…

……………………………………………….

"Ayumu! Won't you come down? Breakfast ready! Ayumu! Why won't you listen to mommy?"

The ten year old Kagami Taro tried to ignore the banging on his bedroom door.

Ever since his parents had been killed in that car accident along so many others, he had been living with his aunt Kasuga Miho.

Aunty Miho was not the most stable of women.

Her child Kasuga Ayumu, not being able to take the pressure anymore, ran away from home.

Not that Taro could blame her.

When he were old enough, he would probably do the same…

Taro rubbed his bangs out of his eyes, once again cursing the long raven tresses as they instantly returned to their original position.

He would love to get a haircut, there was just one problem…

"Ayumu please…? Open the door for mommy! Ayumu!"

His aunt believed him to be Ayumu and Ayumu was a girl that liked to keep her hair shoulder length. Taro kept ignoring aunt Miho, as he didn't feel like another evening of being 'tested'.

Besides, he had had a big lunch in school so he wasn't all that hungry.

When saying his aunt was unstable, one must never forget to add, extremely paranoiac.

When she was unable to fully identify a person through her own mental capabilities, she would test them to make sure they were real.

This had been a problem at first, oh yes.

A big problem indeed.

When the police knocked on her door, necessary papers in hand and Taro in tow, she had been convinced her Ayumu had come back to her.

Never having met this 'Ayumu' Taro had no idea what she did or didn't like.

The result of not passing his aunts 'tests' were catastrophic to say the least.

He still had a scar on his back where she had tried to cut him with the broken mirror.

Since then he had always remembered to wear his hair down…

He could hear his aunts footsteps across the hall.

'Good, she's finally given up…'

And not a minute too soon either, it was almost time to get ready for school.

Tanaka-sensei was a man who detested lateness and would not be merciful to those who did turn up late.

He was rather lucky Ayumu had been a tomboy though.

At least he got to wear the boys uniform without question.

Taro made his way out the door, his school wasn't exactly at walking distance and the entire trip would take more then just a few minutes. But it was worth it. He only needed to walk as far as the bus-station after all. Taro and his aunt Miho lived in the forest just outside the city.

About one hour away from his school.

The place was isolated due to it's remoteness and lack of neighbours, but Taro liked it.

It had taken about a year of getting used to these new surroundings, being born and raised in a city after all, but somehow he doubted he would ever want to move back to the big city.

There was just something about this place…

They never had money troubles either. Nor would they ever.

Because of his aunt's…..condition, she was given support-money by the government.

Add that to the money she received after her husband died and the money Taro's parents had left them, financially speaking, life was perfect.

There was no need to wait, as the bus was right on time as always.

And like every morning Taro was the first one to get on.

He greeted the driver – Miss Mari – and sat down in his favourite spot.

That was the best part about being the first one to board the bus, you could sit wherever you wanted. The school-bus would fill up soon enough…

In this case he was sitting near miss Mari, he had known her for several years now.

And if it was one thing she loved, it was talking.

Most of the time Taro ignored her, only pretending to pay attention to what she was saying.

Half of the stuff she talked about weren't interesting to begin with.

But something she said stuck with him today.

"Did you know there will be two kids joining us today? Their parents just moved here."

'New kids, big deal…'

It wasn't as if this sort of thing happened all the time, but a kid more or less wasn't a big deal.

Yet at the same time Taro couldn't help but wonder what these 'new kids' were like.

As they approached the city, the bus slowly filled up and got louder.

Taro never did quite understand how it was they could all be so hyperactive this early in the morning. Still no sign of the new kids though and they would only have to stop one more time before arriving at school.

Once again cursing the loudness of the other kids, Taro stared out the window.

He had never had friends before and never cared to have them. So when he was appointed as the 'freak' of the class – if not school – he hadn't cared much.

If it meant that people didn't want to sit next to him or near him for that matter, it also meant more peace and quiet.

The bus came to a halt and there they were, the 'new kids'.

A young boy that appeared to be the same age as Taro and what Taro assumed to be the boy's little sister. Said little sister was clutching to her big brothers arm, a blush on her tiny cheeks while nervously playing with one of her pigtails. The big brother was staring icily at the others, it was almost as if he was stating 'anyone who messes with my little sister is going to have to answer to me'.

It only took a minute for all hell to break loose. All over the bus girls were squealing and giggling. Taro knew why.

The new boy was truly handsome for a boy his age.

Brown hair, almost a hue of golden blond when in sunlight, eyes a warm honey-brown, even though they seemed to be cold enough to freeze the Sahara right now…

He couldn't describe the strange fluttering in his stomach the minute those eyes turned to him.

There was something about that pale skin and oddly coloured hair that made his stomach do flip-flops.

The moment ended all too soon as the little girl pulled her brother forward to go sit with a group of little girls about her age. The 'big brother' didn't seem to happy about having to sit with a bunch of kids around half his age, but joined her – albeit reluctantly – nonetheless.

He could hear the boys behind him mumble something about 'Gajin'.

Taro doubted the boy was a gajin though. His appearance may be a bit 'un-Japanese' but the characteristics were still there. There was no way this kid was a foreigner or 'gajin' as the boys had put it.

He looked back at the new boy who was in the process of being 'flaunted' by his little sister.

He could tell from the looks on the little girls faces that they were impressed by whatever it was the boys pretty little sister was saying. He could already tell she would be a popular young lady when she grew up. She played crowds like a charm.

The brunet sat in silence, seemingly reluctant to be there and Taro couldn't really blame him.

Most boys their age wouldn't be caught dead 'playing with little girls'.

The bus came to a halt once more and it's passengers grabbed their belongings.

Taro tried to keep track of the new kid and his little sister, but lost them in the early morning hallway crowds. Oh well, he needed to go to class anyways.

He walked to his desk in front of the teachers desk and took out his books and writing utilities, preparing himself for yet another hour of checking the homework that probably half of the class hadn't even bothered looking at.

'The world would be a much better place without them…'

If one thing could be said about Taro, it's that he was obsessed with the subject of 'death'.

Most children his age were petrified by the subject, he on the other hand was fascinated.

The memories of things he had seen as a five year old still came back to haunt him till this very day, but strangely intrigued him somehow.

Where did people go when they died? What was it like to die? Does a persons life truly flash before their eyes like so many other have claimed? Was there a tunnel of white light?

He asked himself these questions on a daily basis, obsessing over ouija-boards one day, tarot cards the next. He had studied religion after religion to try and find the answers he was looking for, always close to finding an answer, but never close enough.

It was hard to explain.

The subject of death just gave him a thrill…

Like that pale boy he had seen on the bus, the one with the blond hair and the little sister who loved her big brother very much. He would look lovely with fingers closing around that slender pale throat…

The bell rang, rousing Taro out of his fantasy world.

Not for the first time in his life he doubted his own sanity.

This couldn't be normal right? Was this what made people so afraid of him?

The last student ran hurriedly into the classroom, the teacher still nowhere in sight.

Pretty much everyone was here now, except for that kid that disappeared last month.

Exactly a month ago a classmate of Taro's walked home after his clean-up duties. Unfortunately the boy never made it home. But that wasn't the bizarre part about it.

The police were baffled as to where the boy had gone. As of yet, they were unable to find even the slightest trace as to what happened to him. According to the early morning paper the police would even be hiring a new more experienced chief to help with this as of yet unsolved case.

'Just another big-city deadbeat if you ask me…'

The teacher walked towards the desk after closing the door, a stern look on the old man's face.

"Class…I'm afraid I have some bad news…"

"First Yutaro-kun, now Asahi-chan?"

"Yeah I know! Scary!"

Taro never paid attention much to what his classmates were saying, usually being the subject of their conversations anyway. He looked at the three girls huddled together in a corner as they were crying over their missing friend.

Taro definitely wasn't going to miss her though. The girl referred to as 'Asahi-chan' was just another shallow brat that worried more about what outfit to wear to school then her grades. As if the decision between a pink skirt or a blue skirt would get you into college some day…

'If only they'd all just disappear…'

Taro mused as he stuffed his books back into his bag. He couldn't wait to get back home and sleep of his bad mood.

All day people had been promoting 'poor pretty little Asahi-chan'. Most likely to be the victim of a brutal kidnapping murderer. Well….one could only hope right?

Not that he agreed on the 'pretty' part.

Taro wasn't one for the 'more make-up then brains' type.

He grabbed his bag and walked out of the classroom, the bus would be arriving any minute now and he didn't exactly feel like being left behind. As he walked towards the school's exit, something caught his eye. The boy he had seen earlier this day was being dragged out of the school.

"No fair big brother, you said you'd sit with me!"

"I only asked if you weren't going to be happier sitting with your new friends."

"No way! I wanna sit with my aniki! I'll see my new friends tomorrow!"

"Fine! Just stop pulling my arm before you tear a sleeve or something. Mom will get mad at you if you do…"

'It must be hell to have a little sister…he doesn't seem to mind much though.'

Taro had always been an only child and never cared to have sibling to begin with. Families were a stupid thing altogether. You were stuck with them from day one unless one of them died and every single 'anniversary' of their passing away was just another tragic reminder of not being able to escape their grasps even after their deaths.

It was disgusting really.

People pretending to care at the funeral but in reality only being interested in their inheritance.

It was just another human trait he deemed disgusting and he intended to change that.

He would study hard and become someone of importance. There was no way he would allow himself to become 'just another human'.

His name would go down in history, he would show all of them!

Taro stepped into the bus and sat down at the corner in the back, staring out of the window.

He didn't feel like talking to the obviously hyperactive bus driver right now.

He didn't even notice when the boy and his sister sat down next to him…

"Uwaaaaaaaa! You have really long hair!"

'Hair? Mine?'

"Don't bother him."

"But aniki!"

"No."

"Awwwwww."

"I said no."

Taro turned to look at the little girl. She was staring at him, more questions obviously on the child's mind, but resisting to ask them in order to please her precious big brother.

He couldn't resist cracking a little smile at the look on the child's face.

She really was adorable…

Wait a second. Adorable?

"I like to keep my hair that way."

A lie.

"Really?"

"Yeah."

Another lie.

"I do too! I think long hair is pretty!"

"So do I."

A fake smile, another lie.

"I'm Sayu! Nice to meet you! And this grumpy guy is my aniki Raito!"

"Nice to meet you Sayu-chan, I'm Taro."

"Not 'chan', I'm a big girl! Even mommy said so!"

"I'm sorry Sayu then."

The little girl giggled happily. It was so easy to please a child, just indulge their curiosity and they won't give you any grief.

"Did you hear?"

"Hear what?"

"About that little girl that went missing. Her mommy and daddy must miss her a lot."

"Yeah, I heard. She's a classmate of mine."

"Really? Then you must really miss her too!"

"Yeah…"

Not really…

"Our daddy's gonna find the one who did it and catch him though!"

"Oh?"

"Uh-huh! He's a crime-fighter! It's called a….a…"

"It's called a police officer Sayu."

The boy named Raito looked at his sister with an annoyed look on his face.

"Right! Daddy's a polish offacir!"

For the second time that day he couldn't help but smile. He even laughed as the girl grinned, showing of her missing front teeth. Apparently the big brother was just as amused.

"Hey! That's not nice! Don't laugh at Sayu!"

The two shared a look and burst out laughing.

"I don't like you anymore!"

The little girl huffed and stuck out her tongue, what was meant to look threatening only looked more amusing by the lack of the missing front teeth.

Taro clutched his sided as tears were forming in his eyes.

He hadn't laughed this hard in ages.

Suddenly a weight settled down in his lap, two little hands rubbing away at the tears that were rolling down his cheeks.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to make you cry! Sayu's really sorry!"

"I'm not crying because I'm sad, I just laughed to hard."

He rubbed her hair and watched the sad little puppy dog eyes turn back into the happy sparkly ones from before.

"You made me worry!"

Her tone of voice seemed angry once again, but the playful little giggle that followed told otherwise.

Sayu made no move to get out of his lap, but simply sat down more comfortably and started playing with his hair. Somehow he feared he would end up with braids before reaching the next stop. Thank god there were no flowers present.

"Listen, I'm really sorry about…that."

The older brother pointed at the little girl, who was pretending not to hear that comment.

"Don't worry. It's fine. She's….nice I guess."

"Yeah…she's fine as far as sisters go I guess. So…your name is Taro?"

"Yeah, Kagami Taro. I'm ten."

"Yagami Raito, I'm nine. And that's my little sister Yagami Sayu, she recently turned five."

Said little girl yawned adorably and settled against Taro's chest.

"I think she's falling asleep."

"It was her first day in school, she's not used to staying out for so long."

"So you just moved here?"

'Duhhh. Stupid question…'

"Yeah, we arrived last Thursday. We would have started school earlier, but we were allowed to help move some of the stuff around."

"And your dad's a police officer?"

"Yeah, he's the new chief."

"Really? Must be great to have a dad like that."

For once he wasn't lying.

"Yeah…kinda. Moms always worried about him though…And he's always really busy. That's why he said he was taking a job here, it's supposed to be a lot quieter then where we used to live."

"I see. Well nothing much happens around here I guess. Other then those two disappearances I mean…"

The bus came to a halt and Raito got up.

"Well, this is our stop."

The blond haired boy gently lifted his sister, who didn't seem to notice the event as she stuck her thumb into her mouth.

"Ummm…see you tomorrow I guess."

"Yeah, tomorrow."

The two boys smiled at each other as Raito carefully shifted Sayu to his other arm, to carry the little girls weight more comfortably and walked out of the bus. The little girl seemed so innocent compared to him when he had been her age. He had been so cold and mature after losing his parents…

Perhaps having friends wasn't as stupid as he had previously made it out to be.

But then again…

The girls that had been crying over their dear friend 'Asahi-chan' were glaring at him from their seats. He could only make out the word 'stealing' and Raito's name.

Where were the tears from earlier? Wasn't their 'friend' more important then some boy?

They walked towards him….

'Apparently not.'

Taro opened the front door.

So far so good, his aunt was nowhere in sight.

It was a good thing because there was no telling what she might do if she say the scratches.

The girls from the bus had decided to try him out as their new scratching post as a punishment for stealing their 'precious Raito-kun's' attention away.

He silently wondered what their 'precious Raito-kun' would have to say about them hurting others…

He didn't pay the thought any mind though. Asking help from others was weak.

Besides, he was strong enough to handle anything.

What he was about to walk in on didn't exactly fit in the 'anything' category though…

TBC


	2. Chapter 1

I would like to thank my readers for their lovely reviews!

Several of them were quite helpful!

I hope you enjoy the next part of my fic.

Chapter warnings: Slight language, slight gore/death AKA the usual.

Chapter – 1 "Family…"

"Help me….please help me…"

Taro looked at the pitiful sight before him, not sure whether to help or to simply turn around.

So, being the ingenuitive boy that he is, he took the easy way out and just stared.

"Please….help me?"

A bloodied knife lay on the floor next to the sofa.

His aunt was reaching out to him, or at least attempted to as more blood spilled from the gaping wound on her chest.

Help her? Why would he want to do that? Because it was the humane thing to do?

Help the woman that had hurt him so many times before?

Taro walked to the dining room and grabbed a chair, he placed it in front of the sofa….and just watched. Help her? No way. Not after everything she had done to him. Evil people like her should just die… He wished all of them would just die, it would make the world a far better place. Wouldn't it?

The outstretched hand lowered to the sofa as the lack of blood started to have it's toll on the slowly dying woman. Had she done this to herself? Did her daughter finally get her revenge?

He didn't care. Not really.

Her breathing became erratic as if struggling to hold onto life for just those few minutes more.

It was useless though. It was over for her.

What good was she anyways…

He had always been the one to take care of everything. Cooking, cleaning, paying bills.

What had she ever done? He wouldn't miss her when she was gone, neither would anyone else…

"Y-you are an e-evil child…A devil's child…"

A look of hatred was etched on her hardening face as suddenly her breathing slowed down before coming to a halt altogether. So this is what it looked like when a person died?

Taro almost wished he could bring her back from death to ask her the questions that had been plaguing his mind for so long.

An evil child? How was he evil?

She had been the one to make him hate her like this.

Make him hate her enough to let her die…This wasn't his fault. It was her. All her doing.

He didn't know how long it was that he sat there, just looking at her, but by the time he got up the body had turned cold. He would need to get rid of it and fast.

The thought of calling an ambulance did cross his mind, but that would only mean he'd end up in an orphanage or at some other relatives place, most likely not much of an improvement compared to the situation he had been in for the past several years.

If he buried her somewhere in the forest, no one would ever find her.

After her little 'outburst' several years ago, social workers stopped visiting.

The woman – no, dead thing had no friends or relatives that cared enough for her to check up on her.

He could just simply take care of himself…right?

- Four years later -

A handsome dark haired youth whistled as he walked across the forest to the place where he had agreed to meet with his childhood friend Raito.

A young woman had disappeared about one week ago, making it the 'kidnappers' twentieth victim. The police had stumbled upon the bodies of the two young children about two years ago. Their hands had been cut off, giving the old woman, who had originally discovered the bodies, the fright of her life.

What had happened to the hacked of limbs no one knew. According to Raito's father the serial killer collected them like trophies. Apparently it wasn't unheard of for a killer to keep a thing or two that used to belong to his victims.

It didn't take long for the police to find the other bodies…

And each and every single one of them was found as maimed as the first ones, the now fourteen year old Taro wondered where the man kept the severed hands though.

"Taro. Over here."

The raven haired teen turned to his left only to gaze upon Raito struggling with several heavy looking bags. He smirked as several books dropped to the ground.

"I still don't understand why you read so much. That's what we have movies for…"

"Funny…Rather then being an illiterate smart-ass, mind lending me a hand?"

"Why should I? You're the one that hijacked a library Yagami-kun, not me."

"Fine. If you're going to be like that."

"Look, I'm just joking."

Taro picked up a book with an impish grin on his face and placed it in one of the bags, the change in weight caused Raito to lose his balance as several more books plummeted downwards.

"See? I helped."

It was a good thing the two had been friends for several years now, otherwise he wouldn't have expected the near fatal encounter with the book that was launched in his general direction. The raven haired youth started to help pick up some of the fallen books, all the while laughing at poor Raito's predicament.

"So did you manage to find some new leads?"

He said in hope to lighten up Raito's foul mood.

Raito and Taro had been investigating the serial killer for several months now. After Raito's father refused to listen to advice from a little kid – even though said kid was his own son – Raito had stubbornly decided to run his own investigation on the matter. Taro was dragged along as usual. Not that he really minded. He had always had an interest in stuff like this.

"Yeah. I finally managed to hack into my fathers computer last night. I printed out the stuff they've gathered so far. It's just like I said. All they can do is sit around and wait for the guy to mess up."

It had taken Raito several weeks of trying to get into his fathers computer without even as much as leaving a trace. It would have taken a lot longer for anyone else, but Yagami Raito was considered to be one of the brightest young students in school to say the least.

The teachers absolutely adored him, pretty much like everyone else.

Taro smirked.

If there was one thing his friend was good at, it was playing a crowd.

He was strangely pleased about the fact that he was one of the very few people that knew Yagami Raito for who he really was.

A clever, but cold and manipulative young man.

The brunet abhorred large crowds, physical contact and most of all the unintelligent masses.

Not that it was noticeable. The boy had a skill that was not shared by many a person.

The capability to lie with ones eyes. Raito was capable of making up entire stories, captivating his audience in a world of lies and deceit without a single trace of guilt on his beautiful face.

Oh yes. The boy was beautiful.

The nearly blond hair gracefully framed his a handsome face, his warm inviting eyes, smooth voice…

Raito had quickly managed to become popular with the girls. Not that young Yagami cared about any of that, he would much rather spend his time with his friend. Yet another fact Taro was pleased about. So many had tried to catch the young mans attention, yet he only had eyes for his one true friend…

"What are you smiling about?"

He was smiling?

"Knock it off, it gives me the creeps."

"Since when do you 'get the creeps' anyways."

"Since now. Let's just hurry up in case it rains or something."

"Not likely." But Taro 'hurried up' nonetheless…

"So her hands were cut off with a jagged knife. Judging by the messy way these cuts were made. The autopsy report states the same thing. They also add to the fact that she was most likely still alive when the killer started and then slowly bled to death."

Taro studied the pictures before him intently, his gaze falling upon some strange markings on the young woman's body.

"Wait a second. These are rope marks right?"

The killer had tied her down? Some of the markings looked pretty vicious. The poor woman must have been struggling really hard…

The picture showed no sign of blood though other then a few drops here and then.

"The killer probably moved the body. I mean where else could the blood go?"

So Ratio had noticed the same thing…

Taro sighed.

"I agree. Still. This doesn't really get us anywhere."

"It's most likely a male. Athletic too."

The raven-haired young man looked up at his best friend.

"Wait a second. What?"

"The body must have been really heavy but since there are no signs of it having been dragged or something, he must have carried it."

"So what. Chicks can be really strong if they want to. I don't see how it has to be a guy."

"The victim that was found before this one was severely over weighted and that one didn't show signs of being dragged either. You'd need a lot of muscles to move that guy. Since I don't know of any behemoth-like women living here, it's safe to say the killer is male."

"You think the killer's stupid enough to live in this area?"

"Yes. The bodies are very well-hidden, several of them in places that aren't shown on maps outside of this city, or at least not on the more recent ones. You would need to have lived here for a long time to know the locations of these places."

So they were looking for an athletic guy…

"The last map which showed these specific locations was sold about 32 years ago, so he's most likely middle-aged."

"Wow…"

"Also, all of the victims were in some way connected to our school."

"You're joking right?"

"No. The first two people who went missing were students there. The third one was a teacher at the time and so on."

"Wait a second. What about the eleventh one? He had no connection to our school whatsoever. Or the ninth one? He was like 90 years old."

"The ninth one was a former teacher at the school for a short period of time. He was offered a job at another school and moved there with his family. The wife died about eight years ago, right after he moved back to this city to 'live out his retirement' or something like that.

As for the eleventh one. He was a silent partner on the schools board of directors.

The guy was making a small fortune by selling of our school equipment to several rival schools. The other victims are mostly students or retired teachers."

"And your father wouldn't listen to you? How in the world can the police not know these things?"

"It's because the victims are so different from each other.

The police doesn't think there's a connection to any of this. Even if they did, there wouldn't be much they could do with it. The killer has no evident reason to kill these people, therefore they simply wrote it off as a freak coincidence…"

"Still. All these people having something to do with our school…It's really twisted…"

Raito looked pensive for a moment, almost reluctant to say, whatever it was he was thinking, out loud.

"What's wrong?"

"I think it's a school-employee or something…"

The killer was working at their school? Taro didn't know if he should be thrilled about the idea of being around a real killer or be worried about it…

"I wish I had a way of finding out which employees went to this school when they were younger…Perhaps a gym-teacher?"

"Why not hack into the school-computer? Perhaps they hold some of the data…"

"No, they won't…"

"Why wouldn't they?"

"Schools only keep records for a certain amount of time. All of the files beyond a certain 'expiration-date' are moved to a record archive in the city-hall. It would be dangerous and damn well near impossible to hack into those. Especially since a large part of it isn't even digitalised."

So they were stuck again.

It still amazed Taro how intelligent Raito really was though. To be able to make such a thorough deduction at such a young age without even putting effort in it. Not that Taro was even remotely stupid. Quite the opposite. He was a very bright young man for his age. It was just that Yagami-kun was in a league of his own…

All of a sudden Raito got up.

"I have an idea…come on."

Taro silently wondered what his friend was up to…

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So could you? For me?"

"Of course! For you anything Raito-kun!"

Taro relaxed against a wall, hearing most of the conversation but not really caring.

Raito had once again managed to effectively use his charms to get what he wanted.

"Thank you so much Sakura-chan. I owe you."

Next there would be a dazzling smile, she would either blush, giggle, or both…

"Tee-hee! Don't mention it!"

'Yup. Both…'

He cringed as Raito kissed the girls cheek, reducing her to mere putty in his hands.

'It's all for the plan…it's all for the plan….'

Said plan – courtesy of Raito – involved persuading the head-editor of the school-newspaper to place their little….quiz.

Together, he and Raito would be interviewing the teachers one by one, all the while making people believe it was for a column in the school-newspaper.

This way the killer wouldn't get suspicious about them…

It was a brilliant plan really….but did he _have_ to kiss her?

"Kagami-kun? What are you standing around for? Weren't you supposed to be helping with clean-up duty?"

"Tanaka-sensei?"

"Well? Hop to it! It's not nice to make your classmates wait!"

He turned to look at Raito who was still busy sweet-talking the girl.

Somehow he doubted he would even be missed…

"Hai…"

"Irresponsible children these days. When I was your age-"

Taro tuned out the rest of the conversation until they reached the classroom.

"This is Spencer-sensei's classroom. I expect the boards to be wiped clean when I come back to check on your progress."

The man turned, pulling the door closed with a loud bang.

Why the teacher seemed to hate him so much, he didn't know.

Or rather he did.

After his aunt 'mysteriously vanished', he no longer felt that strange pressure of staying in the background. The peers that had been bullying him before quickly noticed he was no longer the 'quiet boy in the back'.

Unfortunately the teachers noticed as well.

He was no longer a stranger to the word 'detention'.

Quite frankly, most teacher believed him to be a bad influence on their star pupil 'Yagami-kun'. More then once one of the teachers had tried to discourage Raito in his decision to remain friends with Taro.

They had always proven ineffective though…

As clever and popular Raito was, there was no way he could live without Taro.

He had made sure of that.

Raito needed someone to talk to, someone to share his problems with. An outlet of some sort.

It was a problem commonly found in people of the genius sort. Not having anyone around to share your insights with. Basically because they wouldn't understand it even if you told them.

This is why others that offered him their shallow meaning of the word 'friendship' couldn't even hope to compare. Raito was far too mature to spend his time discussing trading cards or the latest video-games. Yet his age got in the way of communicating with those older then him. Because he was considered a 'mere boy', adults tended to not take him seriously.

Much to Raito's aggravation.

Taro knew exactly what it was that Raito needed and used that to keep him close.

And made sure Raito never found out of course.

Somehow he doubted Raito would appreciate being manipulated like this.

Or perhaps he would respect it.

Who could tell really, with that guarded personality of his.

Taro would rather not find out.

Having wiped the board clean, he started on the awful task of taking out the trash.

He already knew he'd encounter chewing-gum no matter what way he looked at the trash bag.

Especially in Spencer's classroom.

The man could be a total jerk when it came to applying school policy.

No cell-phones, no baseball-caps and most of all no chewing gum.

According to rumour the guy held a gum-check at least once a month by turning the desks upside down. Anyone who got caught chewing gum in class would then have the honour of scraping of every single piece of chewing gum present on those desks.

Without gloves.

Taro for one was glad he didn't have the guy for a teacher.

He would be absolutely mortified of the idea of having to touch used gum before depositing them in a bucket. He didn't like getting his hands dirty at all in fact.

He grimaced as he pulled out the first bag and tossed it into the cart that was present. It was probably abandoned there by his supposed 'cleaning buddies'. Why did the teacher come and find him while the two others that were supposed to be accounted for were still running around the building somewhere?

It wasn't fair.

'Not nice to make your classmates wait my ass…'

Over thirty minutes gone by and still no sign of Raito. He probably got weaselled into a date by that girl in the hallway.

"God damn it!"

A disgusting looking piece of chewing gum got stuck to his hand.

The biggest damper on all of this? Clean up duty lasted an entire week.

And this was just day one.

He walked out of the classroom and headed for the nearest bathroom, determined to wash his hands after touching the used gum.

When he turned around the corner he noticed Raito talking to a group of people.

"Why do you hang around with that freak anyways? You'd be better of without him!"

"Yeah, he's just a little fag with a crush on you! I mean did you hear what Kira-chan read from his journal?"

"Dude, it's a diary, not a journal! I wouldn't be surprised if he wrote down Mrs. Yagami somewhere!"

Those were some of their classmates, Taro recognized them as the star-athletes of the swimming club. They were all the same to him though. Arrogant, pompous and ignorant.

Raito seemed genuinely upset by what they were saying.

"I keep him around because he's useful, not because I appreciate his company."

Taro froze.

"And stop talking about fags. It makes me feel sick through my stomach."

"Atta boy! We knew you'd see it our way!"

"Hey guys! Check it out! There's the little freak right now!"

"Hey Kagami! I hear you like to take it up the ass!"

Taro wanted to get away from here.

He didn't want to see the look on Raito's face.

There was no way he meant what he was said right?

Raito slowly turned.

He was expecting a remorseful look at least, some form of regret in those warm eyes.

There was no such thing though.

And it hurt.

It turned out the other students that were supposed to be helping him had skipped out and waited for him to get stuck with Tanaka-sensei. They had been planning this all along.

I guess the girls could only take so much rejection at a time before doing something drastic.

Being turned down one time after another could be quite damaging to ones ego, especially if the reason is a 'freaky little fag' as the boys surrounding Raito had so eloquently stated.

Why would someone like Raito understand the way he felt about him?

Better yet, why would someone as naturally perfect as Raito pay attention to him in the first place? Let alone be his friend.

He could only watch as Raito turned and started to walk away.

"Let's go. I've got better things to do then spend my time here."

That last statement and the groups laughter didn't even register…

He only had eyes for his friends retreating back.

So that was it?

Forgetting completely about his reason for being in the hallway, he returned to the classroom.

Taro tried to keep his mind focussed on the chores at hand.

It hurt too much to think.

"Kagami Taro?"

He turned to look at the person standing in the door-opening.

"I'm miss Hannah, I would like to have a word with you."

Could this day get any better?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Now do you see why I think you should get help?"

He nodded absently, not really paying attention to what she was talking about.

He was good at that…

"It's not natural Taro-kun. You should be glad your classmates brought this to attention before it got out of hand."

He nodded again. Thankful? In the same way he should have been thankful to his aunts way of raising children? He thanked whatever god was out there that he didn't write anything about her in his 'diary'. As if it wasn't bad enough that pretty much the entire school was now aware of his…obsession with Yagami Raito.

"Now I want you to see the school-psychiatrist once a week. I'll make an appointment for you as soon as I can. Now, I will have to write a letter to your aunt about this. Make sure she signs it before returning it."

Another nod.

It looked like he would have to copy her autograph again.

The counsellor got up and opened the door.

Not wanting to spend another minute in the woman's office, he grabbed his bag and prepared to leave. A hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"Just remember we're there for you."

I would have been a lot more convincing hadn't she flinched upon smiling at him.

It truly was an interesting fact. He had learned this once from Raito a long time ago. When people smile sincerely they would use both sides of their facial muscles. When faking one, only the left side tensed.

It was a small gesture, only seen for a short amount of time, but enough to establish whether a person was lying or not. Funny, how something that insignificant would cross his mind today of all days.

Taro stepped out of the office and made his way to the school exit.

He pretended not to notice the people around him pointing at him and laughing behind his back. After all, he had gotten used to it having to endure it for several years.

As expected, Raito wasn't waiting for him at the bus-stop.

How was he going to get home?

It wasn't as if there were other busses around to take him home. The school bus left over twenty minutes ago. He had no other choice but to walk home…

Not that he cared. He didn't need anybody. Even though he deluded himself for four years now, the truth was he would be fine on his own. What was the reason he tolerated Raito around again?

The walk home was a blurry one. He didn't even remember when he opened the front door or when he took of his shoes. The raven-haired teen took of his clothes and turned on the shower. He would feel better after taking a nice long shower….he would….

You are an e-evil child…A devil's child… 

Perhaps he was…

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was odd how the days seemed to crawl by when you were on your own.

It hadn't always been like this, the days had never passed this slowly before.

Or had they? He couldn't remember even if he tried.

Raito hadn't even as much as looked at him these past few days.

Not that everyone else wouldn't make up for it…

Even the bus driver that normally just wouldn't shut up remained silent, as if terrified of being in the same room with him.

He was going to start some sort of therapy next week. He was to report at the front desk and wait for some guy to come pick him up for a 'nice little chat'. Hadn't it been for his cleanup duties, he probably would have started this very week…

Taro opened a window and clapped the erasers, nearly suffocating as the chalk-residue filled the air. He was thankful that today would be the last day he'd have to do this.

Again there was no sign of the other students that were supposed to have cleanup duty as well. The teachers probably didn't want them around him or something. Not that he could blame them, he was evil wasn't he? He would probably be a bad influence.

The depressed teen walked towards the trashcans and started to empty them.

Hopeful that he wouldn't run into any stray pieces of gum this time.

'What's this?'

Something colourful lay amongst the trash.

Upon closer examination it turned out to be a doll wearing a cheerful looking dress.

Why would this be in the trash? Did a student bring it to school? He doubted it belonged to a teacher. It probably got confiscated or something. Taro reached for it, but as he lifted it from beneath the piles of used paper, he noticed something odd.

The doll was missing it's hands.

Loud footsteps were approaching rapidly. Taro stuffed the doll under his shirt, grimacing at the thought of it having been in the trash.

"Ah, Kagami-kun. I was wondering if the trash had been taken out yet."

"Yeah, it has. Most of it was gone when I got here. Why? Did you lose something sir?'

"No, nothing of importance. Cary on."

It looked like Raito wasn't the only one with a private investigation….not anymore.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It had taken a lot to keep up with his teacher. The guy must have been in top-physical condition to keep walking at that pace and not get tired.

'Athletic male, check. Middle-aged. Check. School employee, check.'

But still. He would have never suspected this guy as a murderer.

True, he wasn't certain this was the guy, but something told him it was.

Like a gut-instinct or something…

Taro brushed away his pitch black locks as he peered through the window, it had been about two hours since he first arrived here. The teacher walked towards the refrigerator and opened the door. From his rather uncomfortable position at the windowsill he couldn't see what the guy was doing though…

'Come on, hurry up!'

He had heard Tanaka-sensei mutter something about a staff-meeting that was to be held today.

He only hoped this guy was supposed to join them.

As the teacher walked out of sight, he lowered himself by the drainpipe to the ground and hid amongst the bushes. He heard a door open, close and being locked.

The familiar pattern of footsteps soon accompanied them.

After waiting for several minutes, Taro climbed back up the drain pipe and opened the window, his back-pack nearly getting stuck.

As he walked towards the direction of the refrigerator the teacher had been so obsessed with, a rather vulgar but distinctive smell seemed to linger in the air. When he opened the refrigerator door, the smell became stronger…

As he gazed upon his newly acquired trophy he smirked.

They were his now…

TBC


	3. Chapter 2

I would once again like to thank the readers for their lovely reviews.  
The previous chapter caused a lot of confusion.  
It's nice to see you guys are paying attention

The diary, Raito's attitude, the reason Taro was carrying it with him, who the murderer is, everything will be explained once the actual story starts. These first 'prologue chapters' are a set-up for the fic that will start soon.  
So as for the contents/reasoning, it's a HUGE surprise that will be revealed as the story progresses. The prologue is actually moving on a lot faster then I originally imagined it would. I was expecting 5 chapters at the very least. But who knows, I still might fill it up.  
So don't worry people, it's not an unexplained plot hole, in fact it'll be quite important.  
I've been dropping several hints in the first two chapters already, some obvious, some subtle.  
For those that have had no trouble in finding them so far, you're either very perceptive/clever or the hints are a tad bit _too_ subtle .  
But yeah, it's a cliffhanger X3

L:…………………..  
Raito: Not even I can be that cruel….

As for Taro, yeah he's very cute. In the original Death Note prologue he was a very sweet kid, sorry for the fans who dislike the way he's portrayed in this fic, I really do like him, it's just an idea I've been toying with for a while now and he fit the image.

I'll put up a link in my profile for you guys, in case anyone wants to download the prologue.  
For those that don't feel like it, Taro looks pretty much identical to Mikami Teru, one of the characters in the second part of the Death Note manga. Well, minus the glasses.  
When looking closely at their names, there's a similarity there as well.It's my belief that Taro was the basic draft and eventually the original character was moulded into Mikami.

For those that like his personality, he was modelled after the main (male) character from a Manga named 'Goth'. Do take note that the manga contains mature graphic material AKA gore, not for those with a weak stomach. Most of those scenes will be described here, as will some of the characters. You do NOT have to read it to understand this fic though!

_On a side note;_ Don't think too poorly of Raito, he has his reasons to be so cold. I'd probably be pretty freaked out as well. That and Raito can be quite unforgiving and in this case, there's a LOT to forgive. It's most definitely not just Taro having a crush on Raito, it's something a lot more serious. Raito is an intelligent young man. Being a homophobe does NOT fit into his personality in my opinion. Getting curious yet? XD

_Chapter warnings: Slight language, slight gore/death AKA the usual._

* * *

_Chapter – 2 "Friendship…"_

A pale hand crushed the can it was holding.

"How dare he…"

A single nearly blond hair lay there, as if mocking him.

"But he won't get away with this…"

There was only one student with hair like that.

"I will get them back."

The crushed can was thrown across the room.

"And yours will be joining them."

Laughter erupted from the pale man as he sat in front of the now empty refrigerator.  
Empty except for that single hair.

Somewhere far away from this disturbing scene a young man buried a suspicious looking bag with a smile so sweet yet twisted on his pleasant face. His plan had been set in motion…

* * *

"So I want you to say this to yourself whenever you feel the need to…express yourself in that manner again. Ok?"  
"Yes sir."  
"Good, now I want you to write down how many times this occurs during the following week. I'll see you again on Monday. And remember, we're here to help make things better."  
"Yes sir." 

Therapy had been exactly as he had pictured it. Boring and utterly useless.  
The only good thing about it was that he would be missing some of his Monday afternoon-classes.  
Raito still wasn't speaking to him.  
In fact, he didn't even as much as look in his direction unless it couldn't be avoided.  
Even in those rare moments in which the two young men made eye contact, Raito looked at him as if he were air.  
Apparently the things written in the journal had disturbed the other boy….severely.

Not that it mattered.  
It just meant he lost a journal, nothing more.  
Journals were replaceable…

During lunch-break yesterday Sayu had walked up to him and had asked him what was going on. She was so sure her brother was upset and that Taro had something to do with it.She was nice about it at first – Raito obviously hadn't mentioned the contents of the journal to the little girl – but when it became clear that he wasn't willing to give out the answers she so clearly desired, she made quite the ruckus.  
It didn't matter how much she liked Taro, this was about her precious 'aniki' after all.  
There was no competition there, not even after four years of knowing one another.  
Not to mention he had never really been that close to Sayu.  
Sure, he liked the girl and all, but still…

Glancing at his watch, he noticed time had gone by at a rather alarming rate.  
He had missed the bus once again. It was starting to become a bad habit of his.

Taro silently cursed at his bad luck and rushed a bit towards the exit, knowing he had a long walk ahead of him. The fact that the school-psychiatrist's office was at the other end of the building didn't help much.

"I………something……do………your fault!"

Taro turned on his heels. That almost sounded like...  
But it couldn't be? Could it? The voices were coming from the staircase to his far left.  
The same ones that led to the roof…

Wasn't it forbidden to go up on the roof? Curiosity getting the better hand at him, he decided to check out the noises. The voices weren't nearly distinctive enough to clearly make out what the people on the roof were saying. Taro silently walked up the stairs…

"Give it up! I know it was you!"  
"But I don't even know what you're talking about!"  
"Like HELL you don't! Now where are they?!"  
"Please! I really don't know!"

Poor little Yagami Raito.  
Apparently sensei missed his little collection and the blond hair accidentally left in place of the 'scene of the crime' was just the amount of evidence the guy needed to figure out who stole it.

Revenge was sweet wasn't it…

Who knew that all it took was a single hair?  
Now his dream of fingers wrapping themselves around the beautiful boys throat were becoming reality.  
The larger man pushed the boy against the fence dangerously close to the edge of the building, hands firmly latched onto the pale neck.  
Raito would probably have trouble breathing right now…  
In a few minutes Raito would lose the energy to struggle and hang there lifelessly accepting his fate. His warm honey-brown eyes would become dull and glassy, like that of a pretty little doll. Oh how many times he had dreamed of this scenario…

But then why did it make him feel sad?  
The hands he had pictured on Raito's throat had always been his own, never another's…  
He had always been the one to mar that pale skin with bruises, not another.

This wasn't good.

Taro was starting to get agitated at the older man. Even though this entire scenario had been staged by him from the beginning. I mean it all worked out right? Raito found his killer, the killer could start a new collection and Taro could watch his dream fulfil in front of him…  
As predicted, Raito's struggling became less and less. He couldn't let the guy do this…Raito was his to kill.

* * *

**Raito POV** (AN: ZOMG 0-o) 

He was getting dizzy.  
He could feel the tears burning but he refused to cry.  
There was no way he'd give the guy this satisfaction.  
He hoped that whatever the guy had lost cost him dearly.  
Hopefully it would cost him enough to get caught.

Raito wouldn't want to be in the guy's position after his dad got his hands on the guy.  
After all, murdering the son of the police officer that was in charge of your case was never a good idea. He had known that this was the guy he had been looking for.  
The answers to his little quiz had given him enough information to determine the identity of the serial killer. He just hoped his father would take them seriously for once…  
The hand around his throat seemed to loosen all of a sudden.  
A noise reached his ears, nearly gone unheard over the frantic pounding of his heart.

'Clapping?'

"Well well. If it isn't Tanaka-sensei and Yagami-kun."

Raito was shoved to the ground harshly, the back of his head connected to the stone-cold concrete. He didn't know whether to curse his luck or appraise it. Even though he was sure he had a concussion right about now, had Tanaka-sensei aimed a little more to the right, he would have gone over the building.

The fence only covered one side of the building after all.Behind the fence was the gymnastics field. After the school board became rather fed up with removing tennis-balls from all nooks and crannies of the rooftop every season the playing field was open, they had installed a fence to keep the balls from reaching. It didn't really do anything other then provide another challenge for the boys to purposely hit the balls onto the roof though.

Well, other then becoming a new perch for the occasional pigeon.

"You! What are you doing here young man! You should be at home!"  
"I'm merely enjoying the show. By all means do continue."  
"You really are sick!"

Like Tanaka-sensei actually had the right to accuse another of being 'sick'.

"Sick? Me? Oh no sensei, I'm not the sick one. If anything you are. Can't you see it? I'm only trying to cure you. I got rid of your collection in order to make you better."

His voice sounded so innocent and cheerful right then…but then why did it feel so _wrong_?

"You? It was you!? But how! The hair!!!"  
"But sensei, Yagami-kun and I are _close_ aren't we? I could have just _accidentally_ left a hair that is not my own right?"

All the pieces just fell into place. Taro had been planning this?  
He made sure to leave evidence in the hand of a murderer that would point none other then Raito as the intruder?  
When he had heard the things in the journal, he had refused to believe them at first.  
It had to have been a bad joke, they had to have been making those things up.  
He had been so sure of it.  
If it was one thing he hated, it was being proved wrong.And in this case he had been _very_ wrong.  
Not only did the journal truly contain those twisted fantasies, they had indeed mostly focused on himself. Even then some part of Raito had refused to believe it.

He had distanced himself from Taro as much as he could of course. He had needed some time to think.  
Taro couldn't really want those things to happen to him right?  
But in all his life he had never expected Taro to react this _viciously_.  
He would go as far as to kill him?

True, it had been Tanaka's hands doing the strangling, but it had been Taro pulling the strings from behind the scene all along.  
If the boy were capable of this, what else would he do?

For the first time in his life Raito felt real fear.  
Fear of the boy he had once believed to be his friend…

Taro walked closer to them. A weird sadistic smile on the boys face.  
One that no child should be able to carry.

It even managed to disturb Tanaka-sensei, who stumbled dangerously close to the edge.

"Not possible…you're just a boy…just a little boy!"  
"Poor Tanaka-sensei. So sick. But I'll help you, I'll make it go away."  
"No! Stay away from me!"

But Taro didn't stop walking, not until he was mere inches away from the older man.

"Don't you want to get better? I'll let you have your precious collection back."

Tanaka rushed at the boy like some sort of cornered animal…  
It had been the wrong thing to do.  
Using the mans panicked state against him, Taro shoved him over the ledge.

The guy hadn't been using common sense, he had been too far gone to realise it was only a little boy standing in front of him, that he could have easily overpowered him if need be.

And that mistake would cost him his life.

Raito dared not look over the edge as he heard a sick splattering noise accompanied by a woman's terrified screams. Taro slowly stepped away from the edge, to make sure he wasn't seen. He could really do it…Take another humans life…

* * *

**  
General POV**

"Raito! Raito! Answer me!"

Strong arms were wrapped around the shivering little boy.Yagami Souichiro had never been so scared in his entire life.  
According to the paramedics the boy was fine.Only a minor concussion and a few bad bruises, but nothing to worry about.

The boy just wasn't speaking…  
And he couldn't stop blaming himself for it.  
After all, his 13 year old had been right all along.  
Like the proud adult he was, he had refused to listen to him and now it was too late.

There was their serial killer, splattered across the school sidewalk like road-kill.  
And here was his traumatised son refusing to utter a single word about the events that had taken place. Not that the vicious bruises on his neck didn't tell a story all on their own. He had come so close to losing his little boy…

But he couldn't help but wonder why the murderer jumped.  
Why – after having been unmasked by one of his students – did he let him live?  
If it hadn't been for the notes on Raito's desk, he wouldn't have even considered the man as a possible suspect. It only took a call about a possible 'suicide' on school property to make his blood run cold.

"Dad? I want to go home…"

The elder Yagami took his son in his arms.

"I know son, I know."

He would never doubt the boy again.  
Ever.

* * *

The news had been full of the story.

Little Yagami Raito, a thirteen-year-old young man was found severely tramatised on a rooftop after nearly being killed by one of the most dangerous criminals this day and age. For some reason the older man jumped of the building, ending his life and his killing spree once and for all.

His reasons remained as of yet unknown.  
His would-have-been-victim confirmed the story.

The two had been alone on the rooftop and the man jumped after Raito pretended to be dead the moment his head hit the concrete.  
The headlines nearly overshadowed another horror-story.

Upon walking his dog in the nearby forest, 23-year-old Jiroshi Kanada uncovered the body of a woman. The body had clearly been buried there for a long time. Young Jiroshi nearly had a heart attack once he saw his dog return with what seemed to be a human jaw.

After dental-identification of the remains, the woman turned out to be none other then Kasuga Miho. A woman with a severe mental illness. Her nephew, who had been placed in her care, had gone missing around the same time the serial killer committed suicide.

Was the poor boy the final victim of the serial killer?

Many feared the worst…

PROLOGUE END!


	4. Chapter 3

Well, Mina-kun! Here's the late-as-usual addiction to my little fic!

And I can tell you this much, being a law-student is HARD work.

I should soooooooooo be studying right now

Speaking of education. I am going to be a really REAL detective! Once I finish my law studies, another 2 year long education shall groom me for the life of an official police-trained detective! Believe it or not! Several people who finished this same education ended up working for none other then INTERPOL aka ICPO! I can't wait to see where this little adjustment in the coarse of life will lead me!

Not to mention, I moved!

To a gorgeous new house to be exact!

We have a HUMONGOUS garden there people!

Oh well, you guys aren't here to listen to stories of my personal life anyways ;p

Anyways, the previous first reviewer was granted the first few clues I left within the Prologue to this fic. Be sure to search them out people! Otherwise you'll miss out on the actual plot!

Call it a little interactive quiz with the plotline as it's answer!

For example!

Who is/will be Kira?

Even though most of you are betting on Taro right now, please take note of his usage of 'Yagami-kun' and his black hair/eyes. This is an obvious hint to something that will happen later on! There's several others hidden, even a few in which you'll have to look closely!

Especially now that he actual story is starting (a lot earlier then I originally expected)!

**IMPORTANT! READ!**

**Within the chapter itself, the occasional riddle is presented.**

**Due to this being the first chapter, I'll help you this time.**

**The number-codes actually MEAN something! These are the early chapters, therefore they're easy! Be sure to keep up the pace ;)**

**SIDE-NOTE!**

**I for one am not religious. Therefore this chapters contents does little to nothing to me. In fact I am mostly of the same opinion. I do however respect religion and the decisions of other human beings to believe or not. As a matter of fact, a close friend of mine is a Christian, another is a Muslim. Please do not take offence to any and all statements within this chapter! They are not meant to be insulting! My sincerest apologies however if you do feel insulted! Also, please refrain from starting a discussion on this subject. I will most likely be tempted not only to respond to comments regarding religion, but I defend my viewpoints harshly if not brutally. But as this is a fan-fiction of my creation rather then a topic up for discussion, please indulge me :)**

**Thank you!**

Good luck and enjoy!

* * *

_Chapter 1 "Beginning"_

The 17 year old Yagami Raito was nervous.

From the moment he had waken up he had felt this nagging sense of 'wrongness' in the air.

It was almost as if his instincts were telling him to run and head for cover until the feeling dissipated. However, being the number one 'most brilliant student' in Japan he had a certain reputation to uphold. Running and hiding were not the kind of actions with which he could set an example.

So therefore he suffered in silence – in more then one way due to their sensei going on and on about this theory of his, which Raito had already proven to be wrong in three different manners over the past forty minutes – as his thoughts once again drifted back to the dream he had mere hours ago.

"I shall call for you when I need you, be ready for that day.

The price of your life is your life itself…"

A smooth hand caressed his cheek, a smile on the persons face, a gentle touch to his lips.

A second pair of lips pressing against his.

"_I love you…I'd never hurt you…"_

_His heart was beating fast, or was it the heart belonging to the other? With their chests pressed together like this it was hard to tell…_

"I did it to show you. To show you how far I'd be willing to go for you. I'd die for you and I'd kill for you." He swallowed the forming lump in his throat as he looked up into the loving eyes belonging to the one in front of him. "I-"

"Yagami-kun, are you paying attention? I'd like you to translate the first line on page 25 into Japanese."

"Yes sir. 'With the loss of his dearest daughter Annie, Darwin lost all faith in a beneficent God and saw Christianity as futile.' "

"Excellent as always."

Once again a hopeless discussion on something as ridiculous as religion. He had never been one for such trivial matters. The only power a God had in his opinion were the ones bestowed upon these beings by the people who made them up in the first place. Their sensei was an avid believer and lived his life by 'the one book'. A book that held all the answers in the world to some, questions to answer their questions to most. To Yagami Raito religion was nothing more then a farce. True it was admirable how far some people were willing to go to express their faith and he truly was amazed at how one mere book played a part in the greater part of the world history, but to him it was just that. A book.

And like any man-written bundle of papers it was flawed. The ideas represented within this book were outdated and the supposed facts had been proven untrue so many times before one would think that people would get a clue. It wasn't that he was the kind of guy who refused to believe in something that hadn't been proven – also this was pretty applicable – quite the opposite. He however did find it hard to believe in something after cold hard fact had already proven that 'something' wrong. True, even Darwin's theory had several holes in it to give any sceptical being doubts, but at least there were pieces of evidence to back it up and solidify the theory somewhat as apposed to the people of Mozes for example, who had been rumoured to have travelled around a desert for several years without as much as leaving a trace. It was only common sense that when a large quantity of people travelled through a location for a long period of time, some traces of an albeit temporarily civilization should have been found. Especially within a desert where possible items like these would have been well-preserved within the cruel desert sands.

However to most the idea of the human life-form originating from a primate seemed ridiculous, about as ridiculous as the land-based organisms having once been aquatic life-forms. For some reason the complete obvious fact that human embryos took shape within fluids provided by the female body completely eluded their grasp. Even if the previously mentioned substance could not exactly be identified with water, the fact that newborns have the capability of breathing in water in the first few moments of their life before their lounges develop to their intended functionality clearly meant nothing as well.

'How nice it must be to be completely oblivious to common sense sometimes…'

Yagami Raito was bored. Bored with the people around him, bored with his education and just plain bored with life. Even though for some reason a strange feeling was nagging at him that this day would be different from other days, this day seemed to be nothing other then just plain dull. As the bell rang to indicate the end of yet another boring school day Raito got up and neatly placed his books within the slightly worn-our brown bag at his side.

He would have rather left this dull reading material in his desk if it weren't for cram school later tonight. He never really did see a need to attend, however his mother found it very important for him to keep up his grades. Regardless of the fact that he memorized over half of that information when he was a child. If anything he would have rather advanced several classes. But no, his mother deemed that being acquainted with 'kids of his own age' would be good for him. So he was left to suffer in the hell that is repetitive and mostly redundant information given to him and his peers by people who each seemed to think that their subject was the most interesting one in all of Japan. As if their guiding hand would eventually make a difference in the way their students would live out their lives.

As if Raito's life hadn't been lined out for him already. As a young boy Raito had wanted nothing more then to be a great detective like his legendary – albeit fictional – heroes.

Names like the timeless Sherlock Holmes, C. Auguste Dupin and Hercule Poirot were not at all unfamiliar with him as a child. Alas his parents disagreed with the idea of their son involving himself in such a dangerous profession. Especially since he more then had the capability to get 'further' in life. So when his parents decided to humour him so to speak and indulge his childish curiosities, they decided their child should become a lawyer. So as is natural, young Yagami Raito would go to Touou University – otherwise known as Toudai – in order to further his steps to becoming an honest representative of the law.

Woo-hoo.

His younger sister however was allowed to make her own decisions based on her likes and dislikes. He was the older and responsible one, she was the carefree younger one. Regardless of the fact that Raito fulfilled the role of the 'perfect offspring', he had always known that his younger sister had been their favourite. Favourite because she had this adorable laugh, Raito on the other hand was serious and studious. Favourite because she brought home her friends and spent hours on the phone with them. Raito preferred the company of books rather then have another living being in the vicinity. Favourite because unlike Raito, she was flawed and therefore appeared human…

If only his parents knew the truth…

The truth of how imperfect their precious son could truly be.

* * *

After turning on the TV in his bedroom, Raito lay back on his bed. He switched to a different canal upon discovering that Sayu had been watching anime in his room again. Generally he only watched the news and the occasional educative program. 

"As the local residents have stated earlier on, the man had been behaving strangely over the past few weeks. None however suspected that something like this would actually happen.

A hostage situation in this local kindergarten – I repeat kindergarten is threatening to escalate."

Apparently some armed lunatic decided it would be a good idea to take shelter from the police by holding a couple of brats hostage. For some reason Raito wouldn't be surprised if the guy went and died from stress overload, compliments of a bunch of diaper-wearing rug rats.

"Wait a second! The hostages can be seen signalling for some reason! The suspect seems to have fallen to the ground and has remained motionless! The police are entering the building as we speak!"

'What in the-'

"This is unbelievable people! The suspect collapsed and died! Is this the work of none other then God?"

No way. There was no way whatsoever that this had been some holy intervention. Still, the irony of the situation did not fail to make itself known as the young children evacuated the premises and the now deceased suspect was carted out while covered under a glaring white piece of cloth.

The room seemed awfully cold all of a sudden…

Raito was forced to turn his attention away from the TV-screen as his cell phone interrupted his thoughts. Normally his caller-ID would be able to give some clue as to who was calling.

In this case it proved to be useless.

Raito pressed the 'accept' button and answered in a polite hello.

_"We're you watching?"_

Somehow this sentence wouldn't have nearly sounded as strange regarding the events that had taken place mere moments ago. What did seem out of the ordinary however was the fact that the voice had been mechanically altered…

"Who is this?"

_"No one you should be familiar with right now, but will be familiar with all too soon."_

"Excuse me? Is this some kind of joke?!"

_"No, jokes would be quite the waste on someone like you. Wouldn't you agree Yagami Raito?"_

Not only did this person know his name, how the guy – or girl – got a hand of his cell phone number was beyond him.

_"Switch to channel three if you'd be so kind…"_

Another news bulletin. Some big story about a serial-rapist being released from jail due to lack of evidence.

"I don't see how this is-"

The man dropped dead, causing chaos amongst the crowds.

"How did you know he was going to die…"

_"Very clever Raito-kun. Let's just say that I had a hand in this criminals demise."_

"What do you want."

_"Straight to the point then? Alright. What I want is for you to assist me in a personal mission. A divine mission so to say."_

"Devine mission?"

_"I wish to purge this wicked world from all criminals. Imagine, a world where no one would have to fear death by the hands of another ever again."_

"And how would you accomplish this?"

Was this guy crazy or something?

_"A weapon capable of suiting my needs of course. What else? However, even the most powerful of weapons cannot be useful in every situation. Hence why I need you."_

"Need me?"

_"You see dear Raito-"_

He for one did NOT like the familiarity in which this person spoke to him.

_"-even though I now possess the means to accomplish my goal, the capability of eluding those of higher intelligence might be difficult."_

Higher intelligence? What in the world was this guy going on about?

_"I believe you'll agree with me when I say that criminals dropping dead like flies would attract the attention of many a person. The police of course included. The police I can handle. There is one factor I'm worried about however."_

"Which would be?"

_"L."_

"And you wish for my help to get rid of this 'L'?"

_"Precisely. I knew you were clever."_

"Flattery is nice and all. But I doubt flattery will sway me into doing you this favour."

_"One year ago. Add two months. Subtract three days. Do you remember?"_

He knew he should have listened to his instincts about this being a bad day.

"What do I need to do…"

_"I'm glad you could see it my way."_

"I'm sure you are…"

_"Now now. Please don't be cross with me. Especially since you know exactly what's at stake here."_

"………."

_"Good boy. Now tell me. What goes up, but at the same time goes down, up to the sky and down to the ground, my present tense and my past tense too, lets go for a ride just me and you...What am I? Your present awaits there. Goodbye Raito-kun."_

It goes up and down at the same time and it's a ride for two people. Present and past are tense. A see-saw. There was a see-saw on the old playing ground near his school…

* * *

So this is where his 'present' was supposed to be at? He easily spotted the brown paper bag. Easily due to the fact that he knew where to look. The decrepit old see-saw was not exactly a crowd-drawer so to say… 

Raito opened the bag. Within it there was a cell-phone and a black note-book.

"Death….Note?"

The cell-phone started to buzz. Two messages received…

Raito opened the first.

_"This cell-phone will be our means of communication. The code used in this phone is as followed……"_

Raito memorized the code before deleting it and opened the second message.

_"5-3,3-2,8-1,-,8-1,4-2,3-2,-,4-1,2-1,6-1,3-2,7-4,-,2-2,3-2,4-1,4-3,6-2."_

_**TBC**_


	5. Chapter 4

I would very much like to thank you all for your lovely reviews!  
Makes me feel like I'm actually good at something :P  
To those who didn't quite figure out the riddle in the last chapter, here's a little clue.  
It revolves around the object mentioned in the same part as the riddle. I won't spoil it for you though! But I know how frustrating it is when you can't seem to figure something out. Hence the little clue to help you on your way.

And thanks especially to one certain reviewer who congratulated me on me becoming a detective!

I'm not fully pleased with this chapter though. It might have something to do with the fact that I wrote down several events that will happen later on. A rather steamy scene between our two favourite Death Note characters for one! That and the new Harry Potter book is to be released within a matter of days...

READ! NOTES:  
The ringtone mentioned in this fic is downloadable on the net. It's the very same one from the Japanese horror movie known as 'One missed call'.

It's also known as 'Chakushin Ari'. For those who want to know what it sounds like, check youtube and either search for one missed call or the specific title, One Missed Call (Chakushin ari) Ring Tone.The movie itself is available as well I believe X3  
Be careful though! I'm a horror movie fanatic with a passion for yurei movies!

Those who scream/scare easily, don't bother watching XP (Yurei, imagine movies like the Grudge (Ju-On) or the Ring (Ringu) or Dark Water. Or the videogames known as either Fatal Frame or Project Zero for that matter.) I believed this ringtone to be PERFECT for the story, since it's cute and creepy at the same time. I mean it's from a horror movie, it would have to be XD

(You can stop reading here if you want though XD)

As for yurei, I adore those creepy women. Feel free to find out more about them on Wikipedia for example. I do not agree with the information there however. They claim that the long black hair has something to do with the kabuki theatre. This is NOT TRUE. According to several (Japanese) sources, in old-fashioned Japan women were to have long black hair due to characterisation of gender-roles. Short hair was seen as 'cheap' and un-womanlike. They were to gracefully wear their hair up. After dying however the hair was let down. Long flowing black hair stands for death. (This same element is used in Kabuki theatre if I'm not mistaken.) This is why yurei are seen wearing white (dead bodies were dressed in white clothing) with long loose black hair. Shame on you wikipedia!

Why my obsession? They represent the power of women in one way I guess. Yurei are often (if not always) represented as females. Generally females who died in a brutal way or still have unfinished business (mostly revenge). They have the power to kill in the most horrifying of ways, men are more often then not unable to stop their powers. Call it a sense of feminism XP

Also, in my profile (if not earlier on in notes) I've already stated that I have Asperger Syndrome (Supposedly L has the same disorder, which I wouldn't be surprised about in the slightest. Since I wouldn't have to do much but behave naturally, other then dye by hair black and cut it short in order to successfully cosplay, one of my friends is creeped out due to the similarities between us and often corrects my posture because of it XD). Basically put I have trouble with feeling emotions because of it. I for one am a horror fanatic and found myself unable to experience true fear. Until I saw the original version of The Ring when I was younger that is. A friend of mine and yours truly ended up watching it. When the movie was over, we turned off the TV. It turned back on by itself. It nearly gave my friend a heart-attack and I finally got to shiver at something. Yurei just plain give me the creeps, which is a rare sensation I enjoy. What can I say, I'm an oddball.

Enough of my rambling though.

Now enjoy the latest chapter!

* * *

"The situation is getting out of hand!" 

A pair of large fists hit a desk with a load bang, causing the ground beneath it to tremble.

"We are talking about 100 criminals within a week! 100 lives have been lost and we still don't have a way to explain the people what's going on! What are those scientist up to in there?! People don't just drop dead from a heart attack all of a sudden! Elections are coming up and the people want explanations!"

A rather scruffy looking man with dark bags under his eyes stood up. His hair looked like it either hadn't been combed in days or like he had pulling it out at random.

"I agree with President Sharpner! No progress has been made whatsoever and people keep dying! My people are in an uproar! The press has been hounding my staff-members and has done nothing but blame the situation on us!"

"Now now, perhaps it's a good thing. They're nothing more then criminals after all. Who cares about them? Most of them were on death row to begin with."

"Who cares about them?! They're _people_ for Christ's sake! Criminal or not, you're talking about living _beings_ here!"

"He's right! And as far as the scientists go, they're doing all they can! You can't expect them to perform miracles overnight!"

"That settles it! Arguing like this won't solve anything! I think we need to call in a professional…"

"A professional? Whom do you suppose? Erald Coil?"

"No. A situation like this calls for the best of the best. People are dying from heart-attacks all over the globe. I think we need to call on L to solve this one."

An awkward silence filled the room. The men who had been yelling furiously at one another sat down quietly.

"And you're sure? That he would be interested in a case like this I mean. I hear he's not only stubborn but also refuses to take on cases he's not interested in. Moreover, how do we reach him?"

"Gentlemen!"

All eyes turned to the oddly dressed newcomer. What appeared to be a tall man in a raincoat walked into the room carrying a laptop. The main part of his face was covered with a large hat, a pair of dark-tinted sunglasses and the coats huge collar kept the strangers face from plain view.

"There is no need to worry. L is on the case as we speak. I am Watari. I beg a moment of silence. I now give you the voice of L."

That being said, the figure known as 'Watari' placed the laptop onto the desk in the centre of the hall. Mere moments later the sound equipment was attached and 'Watari' took a step back.

"_Greetings to everyone at ICPO. This is L."_

The strange modified voice echoed through the entire room. The once blank screen was filled with a glaring white, except for one black letter. The letter L.

_"So far this case has proven to be a complicated one. An atrocious and unforgivable mass-murder! In order to solve this case I ask all of you in the ICPO to offer me your complete and total cooperation in solving this case."  
_

* * *

"Raito! You have to admit it's awesome! Totally creepy but AWESOME! I mean I don't think I've ever watched the news as much as nowadays!" 

"Yeah definitely! I guess this means no more misbehaving huh."

"You said it! I'm actually pretty nervous about the whole shoplifting thing…"

"Ha-hah! Kira's gonna get you Daiki!"

Raito looked at his two friends. Or rather temporary companions. After people ceased to fascinate him he normally didn't keep them around unless he still needed them for some purpose. Friendship was far too much of an elusive concept to grasp to begin with.

Friendships were generally fleeting and the word itself used far too freely.

Especially nowadays…

Kira.

It was spreading quickly. The rumour of a dark angel using his divine powers to slay the wicked and bring justice to one and all. What a joke. Kira was nothing more then a mass-murderer. A megalomaniac. Not some divine saviour.

"Well, this is my stop."

Raito opened the front gate while waving goodbye to his so-called friends.

"Laters Raito!"

"Yeah! See you later!"

Raito took of his shoes and deposited them neatly arranged on the floor near the entrance. He offered a gentle 'Tadaima' upon hearing his mothers cheerful 'Okaerinasai', he turned in his latest report-card and smiled sweetly when his mother praised him for doing well in school.

"Would you please not bother me? I'm going to study for a while."

"Sure thing sweetheart! We're having your favourite tonight!"

"Thanks mom."

And with a click he had locked his door. After sparing a quick glance at the cell-phone located on his desk – pleased to see that the light indicating a newly received message was not blinking – he reached into a drawer and grabbed what seemed to be a broken pen.

After fumbling with the lock which sealed the top-drawer of his desk shut, he pulled out said drawer and grabbed the piece of the broken pen and pushed it into a tiny nearly invisible hole in the bottom. What seemed to have been a nearly empty drawer – save for his diary – revealed a hidden compartment containing a black notebook.

"Working again today Raito? Aren't you the diligent one."

"Whatever you say Ryuuku."

An odd looking creature seemed to appear out of nowhere. As if it's blue skin and jagged shark-like teeth weren't strange enough by itself, the black wings and gravity defying aerial stunts would be quite enough to convince someone that this was not a human being. Ryuuku was indeed a supernatural being known as a shinigami.

-------------------------------------- Several days earlier ------------------------------------------

The notebook was real.

It really only took a persons name and face in order to kill them.

At first glance the notebook hadn't seemed like much of a threat and he had doubted – upon reading the rules contained within - that the plain looking notebook truly had as much power as it seemed to claim. But one simple test had proven his views on the notebook wrong.

It was real. And he had just killed a man.

Said man was named Shibuimaru Takuo, a creep with a fine taste for beautiful young women apparently. Raito had been walking around town searching for a proper target to test the notebooks power. Shibuimaru Takuo – otherwise known as Shibutaku – had proven to be the perfect test subject. A young woman had been walking down the street minding her own business when a couple of guys suddenly surrounded her with their bikes. The girl was obviously scared, the guy that introduced himself as 'Cool Taku' however seemed to revel in it.

What was obviously a bad situation for the girl turned out to be even worse as several of the men took a hold of her and attempted to take of her clothes as ordered by their precious Taku-san. Had those guys simply given up after she said no to their offer of 'fun', Raito wouldn't have bothered. But the situation was amounting to something entirely different then explicit offers.

Raito wrote down the guys name with little hesitation.

Shibuimaru Takuo, Cause of Death: Traffic Accident.

At the time the pen left the paper, the girl managed to get away somehow.

Raito watched as she rushed out to the other side of the road with Shibuimaru hot on her heels. A truck pretty much came out of nowhere and hit Shibuimaru dead on at full speed. It didn't take a genius to know the guy wasn't going to walk out of this one.

The blood splattered across the road and the remainings of a bike mixed with what seemed to be mangled human body-parts said enough.

And he had just killed a man…

* * *

He wasn't quite sure how he made it home. 

He vaguely remembered throwing up in that dank alleyway, but the rest of it was a blur.

Everything seemed so surreal, it was like living in a dream. No a nightmare where physical laws did not apply.

A buzzing noise and followed by a rather creepy yet childish ringtone brought him back to reality.

The cell-phone on his desk was the source of the racket. The blinking blue light indicating that a new message was received kept flashing as though mocking him.

'_Here I am, the thing that connects _him_ to you…'_

Raito got up after combing his fingers through his hair. The action always seemed to calm him down for some reason. He took a hold of the buzzing menace and flipped it open to see what kind of message he had received.

'Good work. How does it feel? Good enough to keep going I hope. Keep up the good work!'

A simple message that meant little to nothing but at the same time told so much.

He had to keep killing people or else…

Raito tossed the cell-phone back onto the desk, secretly hoping the thing would fall apart. Fortune appeared to be in said device's favour though as it didn't even leave as much as a scratch on the cell-phone, but graced his wooden desk with a dent instead.

He could feel the beginning of what would turn out to be a major headache and decided against doing his homework, rather taking a nap instead.

About an hour later one of the most annoying voices he had ever heard attempted to rouse him from his slumber. He groaned as he realised his nap had been cut short and the prevention of the earlier diagnosed headache had not paid of even in the slightest.

"What?!"

"Wow. Aren't you brave for a human being."

Wait a second. Human being?

He quickly opened his eyes and turned to the direction of the voice – the action nearly sent him spiralling to the floor but his iron grasp on the sheets upon finding the origin of that voice kept him steady.

There was a monster in his room.

Could today get any better?

"Yo, the name's Ryuuku and I'm going to be your roomy for a while. Say, you got any apples around here?"

Of course it could. The 'it' was a moron.

* * *

"So basically put, your name is Ryuuku, you're a shinigami and you're here on Kira's order. Your job is to keep an eye on me and the notebook while offering me guidance." 

"More or less."

"Then why were you not there the day I received the Death Note?"

"I got bored waiting around."

His head was pounding.

This most definitely wasn't his day.

---------------------------------------------- Present Time ------------------------------------------

Raito found himself occupied with watching the news. He would have to kill off some people again tonight, he had been shirking his 'cleaning chores' as of late.

Ryuuku – his self-appointed roomy – seemed pre-occupied with the small basket of juicy red apples. The odd creature seemed addicted to those damn things. How any person or shinigami for that matter could be addicted to them was beyond him.

_"On further note, Kira saviour or murderer? Regardless, he has struck again, this time in the heart of London. The victim was a former law-practitioner whose career came to a sudden stop after being accused of fraud and embezzlement. The victim collapsed in the middle of the street after a rather successful business meeting that could have revived his place in the spotlight. Scientist still haven't found an explanation on the mysterious re-occurring deaths of countless of criminals. We asked some of the witnesses for a few comments."_

It was disgusting really. The human mind. People could be so shallow. He watched as a young teenagers stepped forward and explained what happened, making her distaste for the so-called Kira's actions obvious. Several other people followed. All of them too afraid to state what was truly on their minds. A bunch of cowards simply telling the world what they were expected to say. And elderly lady stepped forward.

_"In my opinion it's about time someone stepped forward and did something about it."_

_"So you're saying that you're not in the least bit sorry for Mr. Larrington's fate?"_

_"Not even in the slightest. That man robbed those families blind and left them with nothing while he got away scot-free. It's a crying shame."_

_Raito for one couldn't help but agree. That man had truly been a piece of work. He swindled poor families into turning over a large part if not all of their money and belonging with the excuse of safekeeping during their time of need. Little did they know he had secretly been selling anything worth-while._

_"But that's young people nowadays, too busy spending time complaining about what is wrong rather then spending time on fixing it."_

_"We thank you for our time. Back to you Touyama-san."_

_"Thank you Kazane-san. Later this day Jason Irving, a 43 year old male native to the United States of America killed a young male and his family of three after catching his wife in bed with another man. He shot his wife and her lover and proceeded in stabbing his two young children to death before trying to take his own life. The suspect is currently being treated at their local hospital and will be released to the police for further questioning as soon as possible. This is all for the international news of today. We now give the word to Kinta-san with our daily weather report."_

Raito wrote down the name. He didn't even need to hear the confirmation that exactly 40 seconds later the same suspect would die of a heart-attack. He reached for the remote-control on his nightstand when a reporter suddenly spoke up.

_"Ladies and gentlemen! We are sorry to interrupt the following program. We have just been informed that an emergency broadcast will be aired throughout the entire world! None other then the famous and world-renowned detective L will personally be making a statement on the recent wave of deaths amongst criminals. I repeat, the following footage is is an emergency broadcast by the ICPO. Japanese voiceover will be provided by Yoshio Anderson."_

A dark-haired man appeared on screen. The man – named Lind L. Tailor according to the name tag placed on the desk – was wearing a suit that seemed to scream money.

His iron gaze captivated the audience. As men and women all across the world waited for what he would have to say. This was L. The world's greatest detective.

The guy Kira wanted dead or out of the way. Preferably dead. And Raito was the one Kira handpicked for the job…

_"My name is Lind. L. Tailer. Most of you may know me better as "L". I have only one thing to say to the one responsible for the deaths of so many fellow human beings. You have committed the most abominable act in history. I will personally guarantee you that I will catch you at any cost. I have a pretty good idea of what it is you think you are doing and why you're doing it. But what you are doing is evil."_

Raito could only watch as the mans face contorted into a look of pure venom.

Even though Raito's current situation wasn't particularly by choice, for some reason he still felt like this 'L' character was addressing him personally.

'What does _he_ know anyway.'

Raito grabbed the discarded pen and wrote down the guys name in hope to end this predicament as soon as possible. For some reason an odd feeling seemed to be spreading throughout his body.

_"Police all over the world have already begun a thorough investiga–"_

Whatever it was the man would have wanted to say next, game out in gibberish as he grabbed his chest. It didn't take long before he dropped dead on top of the desk he had been sitting at.

It was over.

Kira would have to keep his word about not harming hi–

_"Unbelievable…"_

What in the world?!

_"I did this on the off-chance that you would kill me. So, Kira, you can really kill people without being nearby."_

The body of 'Lind. L. Tailor' was dragged of screen, but the voice kept talking…

Suddenly a glaring white screen appeared. When the voice sounded again, a black letter had appeared at the centre of the screen. The letter L.

It had been a trap. And he had fallen right into it.

_"So it's true after all. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes I would have never believed it. But this was the only way you could have killed them, right?"_

"He really got you there didn't he."

Raito glared at Ryuuku who was laughing in the background, Raito for one could not see the humour in this situation. Had he just killed an innocent human being without a good reason? That same gut-wrenching feeling he had experienced after taking the life of 'Shibuimaru Takuo' returned. He was going to be sick…

_"Kira. Listen up. The person you just killed was a prisoner who was to be executed around this time today. He was not me. Mr. Tailor was a man imprisoned in a high security prison without the usual media attention, so naturally even you wouldn't have known of his existence."_

The great detective L had used a stand-in. He should have known.

But why would someone like L use a criminal to stand in his place? Most important figure-heads had well-paid professionals for such events.

_"But I, L, am real! So why don't you try killing me! Come on! Do it! What's wrong! Can't you kill me?"_

He couldn't of course. But right now Raito was wishing he could. He only hoped that his 'employer' wasn't watching this. Somehow he doubted that luck would be on his side though…

This could have some serious repercussions.

_"You can't, can you. I'd like to thank you for confirming my suspicions. You can't kill everyone, can you? Now let me give you a hint to return the favour. The news reported informed you that this broadcast was shown all across the world. But in reality it's only being shown in Japan. The Kanto region to be exact. I was planning on doing this in the other prefectures as well, but there seems to be no need for it. I now know for certain that you are in the Kanto area."_

Like he said. Serious repercussions.

_"The first of the Kira murders occurred in Japan. I simply cast out my net out on the most populated area and struck gold in one blow. It won't be long before I catch you. And when I do, I'll find out your killing method and you'll be brought to justice for the crimes you have committed!"_

"L…."

He couldn't allow it.

_"Kira…"_

Not while another's life was at stake. Not the way things were right now. He would see to it that justice was served, not L.

"I will hunt you down and destroy you!"

_"I will hunt you down and destroy you!"_

"I am…Justice!"

_"For I am…Justice!"_

The game was on. For real this time.

And Raito was not prepared to lose.

TBC


	6. Chapter 5

Uwaaaaaaaaaa!

I love time off!

Really, I finished my first year of Law School and have to wait until September to get back into said school!

It gives me plenty of time to write fortunately! Also, I finished the latest Harry Potter book in record time. 12 hours exactly. I have to admit that I keep getting the feeling that I've read the thing a hundred times before and that half of it's contents was ripped from fanfics I've read….. But that might just be me XP

And yet another thank you for the lovely reviews! And yet again for the good luck wishes in my new career! I think I'm truly starting to realise why reviews mean so much to authors!

Oh well. Here I am with a brand new addition to my favourite pet-project.

I hope it makes up for the rather uneventful previous chapter. Not to mention, it's quite a bit longer, if not the longest one yet!

Also, I do believe an explanation is needed for Raito's random thoughts. Personally, I'm the kind of person who keeps thinking about my everyday random observations.

It seems to be a trait shared by many an intelligence 'gifted' person. Or at least he ones I know. Somehow I see him thinking in a similar manner when not purposely thinking of a specific topic XP

**NOTES!  
In the original Death Note pilot (link available in my profile) some of the Death Note rules were slightly different. In the official series, the Death Note doesn't run out of pages. Within the original draft of the series, a Death Note has 60 pages and 38 lines per page. In case there would be no room left to write down names, the rule states that the owner is allowed to ask the shinigami for a new one as many times as this person would like. This second 'alternative' rule is the one I'm using!**

Enjoy!

* * *

_Within the barren waste-lands, a small group of strange looking creatures had gathered._

"_So Ryuuku dropped his notebook in the Human world?"_

"_Yeah. I hear a human got to it before he did."_

"_No way! You mean he has to stick around in that place until the new owner dies?"_

"_Looks like it."_

"_I wonder if this particular human has the guts to fill it up. The last one jumped of a rooftop after finding out the thing was real."_

"_Yeah! Man that was hilarious! I mean what was he expecting?"_

"_Wait__ a sec. __You mean you guys haven't heard yet?"_

"_Heard what?"_

"_About the human, the one who found Ryuuku's extra Death Note."_

"_Dude. Spill it!"_

"_He already filled up that notebook."_

"_No way!"_

"_Impossible! The guy is just human!"_

"_Who would want to go through the trouble of writing down all those names anyways."_

"_It wasn't just __**one**__ notebook. It was–"_

* * *

"So basically I can kill people in any way I want just as long as it's within reasonable limits."

"Yeah….I guess."

"It should be possible for a guy in Tokyo to commit suicide in Hokkaido within a certain time limit. But for example it wouldn't be possible for the same guy to do so in France while given the same time limit."

"I suppose."

Raito was getting fed up with that Shinigami.

One would figure that a shinigami at the very least knew of the limits presented by it's own weapon of choice. Clearly he had been mistaken…

"And if a cause of death has been written down that doesn't allow the 'victim' to meet the previously mentioned limits, the written cause of death will become annulled and the subject will die from a heart-attack instead."

"Yep. Pretty much."

"You've never even tried this, have you…"

"Nope."

Headaches were starting to become an every day event nowadays.

The battle between L and Kira turned out to be just what the press had been waiting for.

So naturally all the newspapers – especially the tabloids – devoted their headlines to pronounce their view on things.

Like they even understood what was going on.

The death toll so far was unrivalled. So many people – no, criminals – had died already.

Raito had easily concluded that these criminals did not die by his hand alone. The problem was that he didn't know who else was carrying out 'Kira's divine' task.

That Kira would have a Death Note would be a given.

The rules didn't state that one Death Note user could kill another after all. There was no way that Kira would hand over a weapon to another living being and be left unguarded.

So far Ryuuku had been a source of little to no information. The shinigami was useless really. And he decided to tell him just that.

"You're so useless."

"Yeah I am."

The thing seemed positively amused. Great. He had been demoted from being an unrivalled genius in the world boredom known as the Japanese educational system, to being a source of entertainment for an unworldly creature.

How he wish he could return to those glory days…

He knew he had been wishing for a bit more excitement in his life, but if he had known previously that this would be said relief from boredom, he would have hold his tongue and taken his chances with being bored for the rest of his life.

The small bits of information he had managed to divulge was that Ryuuku had previously been tailing none other then Kira himself – at least that ruled out one possible gender – and that he refused to take sides with anyone. Raito was positively sure he could detect something strange about Ryuuku when the shinigami mentioned the name 'Kira' though. Fear perhaps? Possible, but unlikely. For some reason the terms 'fear' and 'Ryuuku' didn't belong in the same sentence.

This brought his attention back to his previous subject though. Kira and the Notebooks.

He was pretty much sure that both he and Kira possessed one of these Death Notes.

The ridiculous amount of dead criminals made him believe that they weren't the only ones though. Even before Raito had joined the 'holy cause', the number of deaths had been astounding.

Also, something about one of the particular rules bugged him to no end. Usually this nagging feeling steered him in the right direction.

_'Only 6 Death Notes are allowed to exist at a time in the human world. Of course, the Death Note that the god of death owns dose not count. This means only 6 gods of death that have passed on their Death Note to humans can stay in the human world.'_

_'When the owner runs out of room to write down names, one may ask the original owner, gods of death, for another. There is no limit as to how many Notes may be given.'_

Judging from these rules, there could be 6 active users at the same time. Meaning that minus Kira and himself, four other users would be able to use these Death Notes at the same time. That didn't take away the possibility of there being more then 6 available notebooks though. At least it gave him an insight of the situation.

He also doubted that the guy would go as far as to hand out Notes to such a large amount of people. The more people involved in this matter, the more risks the guy would have to take in order to keep them in line.

The annoying ringtone echoed across the room…

* * *

Matsuda entered the fancy room that was going to be their office for the duration of the investigation. He had to admit that he was excited. His first big case!

So far the young investigator had been disappointed in the cases that had been presented to him. Not that he could blame the chief though. Rookies never got to be on the important investigations. That was a given. Still, it had been several years since he joined the police force. One would have expected to have at least been a part of a big case at least once by now. For some strange reason he got the impression that the chief didn't think he was responsible enough. The reason why the chief thought so was a mystery to him though.

The Kira case however would be his big chance to show everyone he was ready to handle the pressure and responsibility!

He looked around the room after nodding approvingly at the fancy new computers – this L character sure wasn't wasting any money, these were state of the art! – and admiring the rather comfortable looking chairs. He was pleased to see several of his former peers of the police academy gathered in the room. They seemed to be slightly apprehensive of the situation. Ha! He'd show them!

Kira was absolutely nothing to be afraid of! They weren't criminals after all.

After spotting some more familiar faces, his gaze landed on none other then Yagami Soichiro. The man had made quite a name for himself a few years back. A psycho killer had been running around hacking limbs of his victims. None other then Yagami Soichiro had been called in to help them solve that particular case. Not only did Yagami-san solve the case with rapid speed and precision, he also ended up saving the life of his young son. The same little boy that ended up helping out with some cases or so he had heard. At first he had doubted that someone as protective as Yagami Soichiro would have allowed his only son to help out with something as horrible as murder cases. Not until he met the boy himself.

------------------------------------------Flashback---------------------------------------------

The sun was shining, the birds were chirping and the cicadas were happily humming away on that hot summer day as Matsuda Tota entered the office. It had only been mere weeks since he graduated and he would already be working on his first murder case!

He had just been at the crime scene with a senior-investigator and several other policemen. They were expected in the lower meeting room to relay the facts and examine the evidence. Matsuda Tota entered the room with a smile on his face – receiving strange looks from his co-workers the whole time – and took a seat close to the screen. Yagami Soichiro walked towards the screen and cleared his throat to draw the attention of his co-workers.

"Gentlemen. We are here to go over the facts of the Amagawa-murder case.

The victim was found dead in the living-room. The victim appears to have been shot with a gun. The next-door neighbour found the body. She went over to the victims house in order to complain about the volume of his stereo. There she noticed how the door was open and spotted the body on the living-room floor.

Mrs. Fuchida proceeded in turning off the radio and returning to her house in order to call the police. Upon arrival about five minutes later, the police questioned Mrs. Fuchida in her home, afterwards returning to the scene of the crime where a police officer awaited."

Matsuda grinned and energetically waved his hand. That police officer had been him!

"He was accompanied by two young women. The two women – Ashida Yuki and Kaori – both claimed to have seen the murderer leave the house. Ashida Kaori-san stated the following:

_'I was busy in the kitchen when I noticed Mrs. Fuchida running out of Kensuke-kun's house. She stopped at his trashcan and threw something in. I joined my sister outside when I heard the sirens.'_

After further interrogation it turned out that the victim had been dating Kaori-san until the two broke up about a week ago. The victim had been caught cheating on Kaori-san which resulted in an argument.

The woman's sister Yuki-san added the following:

_'When I got home, I noticed a woman disappearing into her house just as I walked into the street. It was the murderer I tell you! Not that I can blame old Mrs. Fuchida, the man was an animal! No respect for women whatsoever!'_

Kaori-san seemed to be quite distressed when the officer present questioned her about the gunshot.

The sister interrupted and claimed that it would have been impossible for her sister to hear the gunshot due to the victims radio being too loud.

The officer returned to Mrs. Fuchida and questioned her about the trashcan before checking it's contents. Mrs. Fuchida claimed to have thrown in some tissues after becoming nauseous upon witnessing the murder scene.

After checking the trashcan, both the acclaimed tissues and the murder weapon – a recently fired gun – were discovered. The gun and tissues are being examined as we speak, results should be getting her as soon as possible. All three of the women involved in this case are currently being brought to the police station for further questioning. I'd like to hear your opinions."

A rather sturdy looking man of around 40 years old was the first to speak up.

"Seems like the only one with a motive would be the ex-girlfriend then. Were the others questioned for possible motives as well?"

Somehow Matsuda doubted it was the ex-girlfriend. The poor thing was cooking dinner at the time of the murder!

"Ah. Yes. Mrs. Fuchida and the victim were not on the best of terms according to the two sisters. It turns out that this wasn't the first time Mrs. Fuchida went over to the victims house with complaints about the radio. As of yet the statements of the two witnesses is all we have to go–"

"It was Ashida Yuki-San."

A small voice interrupted Yagami-san. Matsuda had been positive that there had been no women in the room when he had first arrived. Rather then a gentle sounding woman, a little boy was the origin of the smooth and tiny voice.

A young boy with light hair and almond shaped eyes. Even then and there one could see the makings of a very attractive young man. Perfect skin and perfectly shaped brown puppy dog eyes behind his neatly cut hair. The kind of eyes no mother could refuse.

The child had gone unnoticed as he was sitting in the back of the room in a dark corner.

His short legs dangling of the simple chair.

What in the world was a child doing here anyway?

The confusion seemed to be shared by several people within the room. An even larger amount of people seemed more interested in what the child had to say rather then his reason for being here.

"She claimed to have arrived at the time Mrs. Fuchida entered her home. Later on she mentioned that her sister couldn't have possibly heard a gunshot due to the radio being too loud. If she truly arrived around the time Mrs. Fuchida entered her home, she couldn't have known about the music being loud since Mrs. Fuchida had already turned it off.

Also, Kaori-san mentioned that she joined her sister outside when she heard the police sirens about five minutes after Mrs. Fuchida-san reported the murder. This indicates that there had been no contact between the two sisters before the arrival of the police. Yuki-san is obviously lying."

Who was this kid?

Most of the officers present in the room had been taking notes of the child's opinion.  
They weren't seriously considering it were they? Of all people to suspect!  
A sudden knock at the door followed by a quick 'come in' drew everyone's attention to the door next to the child.

"I have the results you were looking for. Mrs. Fuchida's fingerprints didn't match the ones on the weapon. We did find some of her DNA through saliva, but it seems to have been transferred through the tissues."

"Thank you. Would you be so kind as to take fingerprints of Ashida Yuki-san as well? Make sure she doesn't leave the building."

"Got it."

They were serious! They were really going to arrest an innocent woman because a child thinks she's guilty?  
Matsuda glanced back towards the little boy. The kid didn't seem impressed in the slightest. Almost like he'd been expecting it all along.About fifteen minutes of awkward silence later the man returned.

"It's a match."

The little boy got up and walked out of the room, still not impressed but rather with a bored look on his face.

"Who was that kid?"

Matsuda couldn't help but agree with whoever asked that.

They all turned to Yagami Soichiro who seemed as proud as a peacock.

"My son."

---------------------------------------End Flashback---------------------------------------------

That had been his first meeting with Yagami Raito.

He hadn't seen the boy since, but he had heard plenty of rumours of the boy helping out with some of the tougher cases.

While lost in his thoughts of Yagami 'Boy Wonder' Raito, Matsuda had failed to notice that the briefing was pretty much over with already. Oops.

"Matsuda, I do believe you had something to add?"

Something to add? Oh yeah!

"Y-yeah. I don't want to compliment Kira in any way, but…the latest statistics show a dramatic decrease in crime, not only in Japan but in the rest of the world also…"

He hoped he at least made somewhat of a good impression…

"That is to be expected given the circumstances. Thank you Matsuda. That is all we have to say L."

"Thank you. In my opinion were getting closer to Kira. Before I leave, I would especially like to thank the victims-unit, media-team and internet-unit for their previous examination. We now know that Kira most likely only needs a name and face in order to kill his victims. Not only that, but after further examination of the times in which the victims died, seem to match the time schedule of an average Japanese student."

A Japanese student? To Matsuda the idea seemed ludicrous. But then again. He had been proven wrong by a genius before…right?

* * *

Within a dark room a single laptop hummed on top of the wooden floor.

A dark-haired man sat in front of the screen and appeared to be deep in thought.

_"L. The head of the FBI wishes to speak with you."_

"Thank you Watari, put him through."

"As you wish."

_"This is Nelson speaking. About that matter we discussed earlier…"_

"Yes?"

_"Are you positive that Kira is one of the investigators?"_

"Definitely. And I'm sure considering the FBI's reputation, you will do your best."

L closed the connection.

He was sure. Kira had to be connected to the police somehow. Mere hours after the investigators had returned to the safety of their homes, Kira adapted his killing pattern in an attempt to either punch a hole into their 'student' theory or to mock them.

"Watari. Do you have those papers I asked for?"

_"Yes. I will be delivering them shortly."_

"How many in total?"

_"141 including direct family members."_

"Thank you."

Kira was bound to be one of them. He just knew it.

* * *

"You know Raito, there's something I've been meaning to tell you."

"And what would that be?"

Raito walked home from yet another evening in cram-school. He frankly couldn't wait to start Toudai but at the same time couldn't help but feel apprehensive. Perhaps it would alleviate the boredom somewhat, but potentially it could be just as boring…

Not that recent events had proven to be dull though. Quite the opposite.

Always the optimist, Raito had quickly responded to L's move in order to turn the situation around. His father had come home after a meeting with the investigation team and pronounced that he was to be the head of said investigation. Only outranked by L and his superiors of course. Not only had he practically given Raito all the information he needed with his simple statements, he had also been a great help with the formulation of his new scheme to finish off L. Unknowingly of course.

"There's a guy following you around. Not that I'm on your side or anything, nut he's getting on my nerves. I mean he's been following us for the past two days. It's getting annoying."

He had already suspected as much.

"Annoying indeed. I'll get rid of him soon enough."

L was finally picking up the trail he had left.

His latest orders had been made perfectly clear. Kill L and make sure to keep him away from 'the others'. It seemed that Lady Luck had finally thrown him a bone or two.

Kira's 'accidental slip' confirmed his suspicion on there being others like him.

Raito opened the unlocked door. He could smell his mom's cooking throughout the house. Way too much seasoning like always. She would certainly ruin his taste-buds one of these days. It was common knowledge that increased exposure to certain taste-enhancers would have a permanent effect. People who ate spicy food for example would need to eat much larger contents of spice in order to taste it. Hence why many foreign 'kitchens' ended up using a large amount of spices.

What was he thinking about anyway? He needed to figure out how to get rid of the guy tailing him…

His plan to get close to L would have to wait for a bit longer. True, he hadn't been behaving suspiciously in the slightest these past two days, but still. If he got rid of the unidentified investigator after his 'examination period' had passed, he might be able to side-track L for a little while longer…

Keeping him busy didn't mean make it easy for him after all.

He would lure L out of hiding, giving him no other option then to investigate in a front row seat so to say. Somehow he would use his fathers connection and his own reputation with the police to get closer…

Already an adaptation of his original scheme was formulating within the depths of his mind. But first things first. The name and face of the guy tailing him.

He picked up his cell-phone – not the Kira 'standard issued' one mind you – and checked his virtual address book for a perfect subject.

"Eh? R-Raito-kun?"

"Yeah. It's me. Hey listen, how would you like to go to Space-Land with me?"

"REALLY! Oh-! I mean I'd love to!"

"I'll meet you tomorrow at the bus-stop near school then."

"Certainly! See you tomorrow!"

Ryuuku chuckled.

"Looks like you're pretty popular with the ladies."

"Yeah. I am. Aren't you?"

That shut him up pretty quickly.

* * *

"L. We have an update on the Kira murders. 64 more criminals died yesterday, 3 of which died under mysterious circumstances."

"Mysterious circumstances?"

"They committed suicide in a rather brutal way. They also left suicide notes written in their own blood…"

"Thank you Watari, could you send pictures of these notes?"

"Immediately."

It only took mere seconds for the images to arrive. After all these years he expected no less of Watari. The man was truly the only one capable of reading his thoughts. To a certain extent of course.

It didn't take long for the message hidden in the notes to be made apparent.

'L do you know…'

Kira was experimenting.

* * *

"I almost didn't believe it when Raito-kun asked me out on a date! To Space-Land even! I've been wanting to go there since I was a child!"

'You're still a child in my opinion.'  
"Really? I've been wanting to go there as well."

"The bus should be here in about 5 minutes. I can hardly wait!"

'I can imagine. Like the idea of cuddling up to me on the way there offends you.'  
"I know. I'm quite excited as well."

The only ones excited here would have to be the girl and Ryuuku.

Raito was about as excited as a mortitioner at a health-club…

Idle conversations with a girl wearing an impossibly short mini-skirt in the early beginnings of what would soon develop to be a rather hard winter. Brilliant. Truly.

"I thought you said you didn't want to go out on dates because of your Toudai entrance exams though."

'It's called an excuse.'  
"I wasn't at first. But I've been doing especially well with my studies, I felt like I deserved a break."

Another annoying giggle and a couple of flirty insinuations later the bus arrived.

Raito was pleased to see that his stalker decided to join them on this 'joyous event'.

He would hate having to go through this hell without getting something for it in return.  
Better yet, the guy sat directly behind him and his 'date'.  
Perfect.

And as predicted, a rather unwholesome looking figure got on the bus at the next stop.

With any luck the girl currently latched onto his arm would cancel the date altogether after certain events had taken place. His experiments with the Death Note earlier on had given him the exact edge he needed in order to figure out his stalkers name.  
Raito's mood lightened even more so when he noticed only eight people – including the driver – were currently on the bus. The less witnessed the better.

The strange looking guy suddenly drew a gun and aimed it at the drivers head.

Wow….he hadn't seen that one coming…

Did anyone besides Ryuuku notice how he was the one of the few not screaming?

"All of you shut up! One more word out of you and you're dead! Ad you, driver! You know the telephone number to Space-Land right?!"

"Y-yes sir."

"Good, then call them!"

The scene before him played out just as he had imagined. It wouldn't take long before he would be expected to play his part in the act.

He reached into his pocket and wrote on the note that he had placed there earlier.

'Don't worry. When that criminal isn't looking I'll attack the hand that's holding the gun. My dad taught me that. The hijacker is small, I can probably take him.'

He made sure to hold it up at such an angle that the guy behind him would be able to read it as well before tapping his 'date' in order to gain her attention.

"That's dangerous! Let me handle the situation!"

'And try to look surprised, but don't make it obvious. And cut!'

The whispered reply of the man sitting behind him had been more then expected.

He hastily wrote down another message.

"There's no need to write it down, the hijacker can't hear us over the sound of the bus."

He crumpled the note and placed it in his pocket. Again, as expected.

"Excuse me, but judging from your accent I can tell you're not Japanese."

"Yeah. I'm a Japanese-American."

"Can you prove to me you're not the guys partner? It happens often after all. Make people think that there's only one criminal, but in reality there's another one."

A moment of silence. Would it work?

"So are you?"

Another moment of silence. Before the answer to his question came through ad ID-card presented to him.

"Here's proof."

'The FBI?! L is ordering them to investigate the Japanese police! Raye Penber…'

"I believe you…But why would the FBI be here?"

"I'm afraid I can't divulge that information…"

"Do you have a gun?"

"Yes."

"Then I'll leave this situation to you."

'Yeah right. Now cue the 'accidental' paper drop.'

"Hey you! Secretly passing notes to each other huh! Don't you touch that!"

'And the guy picks it up, throws it back…and voila.'

He had to admit that the cold barrel of a gun pressed against his head made him shiver though…

"A date note huh! Real cute kid! Listen up! Don't make any sudden movements or e–"

'Well Ryuuku, time for you to be useful. Don't hold it against me.'

"What the hell is that thing?!"

It didn't take long for the second act to occur. Ryuuku was actually complimenting him for his accomplishments rather then be sour about the whole 'bullet through the head' ordeal.

The criminal rushed out of the bus after discovering bullets, Shinigami and death were not connected to one another. And incidentally got run over by a car. Messy but effective. And pleasantly on time.

He not only got the name and face of the guy that had been following him, he also managed to clear the trial without making himself look suspicious. There was only one problem…

"No way! I still wanna go to Space-Land! Let's go!"

Oh well, you can't win them all…

TBC


	7. Chapter 6

I do apologise for the lateness.

Let's just say things haven't been all 'peachy' between me and my mother.

She's the kind of person who 'doesn't believe in illness, she thinks I'm over**exaggerating**quite a bit. The doctor says otherwise.

The constant study/eat/sleep schedule seems to be taking quite a toll on my health, especially when I try to combine all of the above with several hobbies, sports and a social life.

But that's quite enough about my personal life.

I've managed to write quite a few parts of this fic in advance, seriously, I have parts of the ending written out. That's not up for quite some time XP

**NOTES!**

**I would like to thank you all for your lovely/helpful reviews! They really managed to get my behind in gear if you know what I'm saying. **

**I need to update more often….**

**Also I apologise for the rather slow start in this chapter (or at least I think it's slow XP). It took a while to get into a writing mood.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

For the fifth time this day Raito wondered as to why his life had taken such a miserable direction. Here he was following a certain 'Ray Penber' while dressed in an outfit approximately three times his size in order to mask his figure, below said outfit he wore another outfit to adjust his body-size to the absolutely ridiculous outfit and his hair was getting into his eyes compliments of the beanie he managed to uncover from the piles of clothes that should have been thrown away years ago.

In short.

He was hot, these clothes were itchy and he was annoyed at the people around his as they all attempted to get to whatever destination they had in mind. He simply wanted to go home. Ryuuku's comments about his current attire weren't exactly helping either.

They would be boarding the Yamanotesen line at 3:13 PM. If all went according to plan, Penber would die at 4:42 PM after receiving the information from his colleagues at 3:21 PM. His previous calculations assured him he would have approximately an hour and a half to complete this so-called mission. Raito's left hand held onto the envelope like a vice, in his right he was clutching the cell-phone so generously bestowed upon him by Kira. Only a few more seconds until the first check-point…

'There!'

He pressed the button on the cell-phone.

It was show-time.

Just as previously planned he would be giving the damn device – along with the envelope – to Penber through which Kira would give him the necessary instructions.

He didn't like the idea of being kept out of this particular conversation much, but he had no choice. Either go along or lose that which he had been struggling to save.

Raito watched as Penber froze solid within mere seconds of hearing that voice.

He couldn't blame the guy really. It's not every day a megalomaniac decides to have a 'nice little chat' with you. Penber reached into the envelope to grab the hands-free headset contained within after witnessing the death of what Raito knew to be a man accused of multiple rapes, he had never been put behind bars due to lack of evidence though. Guess it no longer mattered.

The two of them entered the Yamanotesen line, fortunately the moving death-trap wasn't as packed as usual – concerning this E231 series train was one of the most frequently used and most important commuter lines within Tokyo. It includes two 6-door cars which were usually swamped – allowing for Raito to observe the events as they unfolded.

He remained silent as the FBI-agent contacted someone using another cell-phone, how odd it must look to other people. In Raito's opinion it would have been better to use some form of transmitter. Not only would it be untraceable, it wouldn't have nearly looked as odd. Not that the general population cared much about the lives of others unless there was some form of personal gain involved.

The vehicle came to a sudden stop as it reached Harajuku – home of the rebellious youth whom are know to express themselves using rather outrageous fashion-statements. Judging from the fact that they got onto the Yamanotesen line at Shibuya station, after Harajuku would be Yoyogi. Regardless of his detest for these metallic torture devices – he tended to get nauseous on moving vehicles – he had to admit it was still impressing to this very day how quickly a person would be able to move from one location to the other. The construction of this railway had taken quite a few years with another addition being built (which was currently scheduled to be completed around March 2008). Starting in 1885 – 101 years before he had even been born – and finally completing the actual loop that connected Tokyo's main stations around 1925, this marvel of human ingenuity had proven itself to be quite useful. Especially after the introduction of the previous 205 series rapid service trains approximately one hundred years after the original line was created. They'd recently begun to replace these older model trains with the new E231 series.

The train started moving again just as Penber reached into the envelope a second time. The man pulled out some sheets of paper with oddly placed spaces cut out of the top-sheets. The Japanese-American started writing down what Raito assumed to be the names of the FBI-Agents currently operating within Japan. He was told to stay on the train until further orders, but how much longer was it going to take? The more time he spend inside, the bigger the risk his face would be caught on tape. He was having enough trouble steering clear of the camera's as it was with the number of travellers steadily increasing. Not uncommon, they were nearing Tokyo after all.

As if hearing his silent prayers Penber got up and calmly placed the envelope on the rack above him. There was nothing calm about the man's face though. He seemed to be looking around for something as he walked into the direction of the nearest exit. Carefully estimating the direction of the man's gaze it seemed as though he was looking at peoples' sleeves? But of course. The man had caught a brief glimpse of his sleeves when he handed him the package. Perhaps the need to identify the one who acted as a link between Kira and the outside world was stronger then the man's need for preservation. A completely useless set of actions, yet Raito admitted that if he had been in Penber's position he would have wanted to see his killer's face as well. Regardless of it having been Penber to write down the names – including his own – it had been the joined forces of Kira and Raito himself to coerce the man into this situation.

In a half-assed attempt to keep his face hidden, Raito lowered his gaze to the floor and refused to allow it to shift until the man's shoes came into view.

'It seems to be leather. Judging from it's appearance probably a good quality too. The shape of the shoe, the shiny buckle and small 'G' on the side indicate it's Gucci. It appears to be an older model. Original price of that model should be around 650 dollars, however seeing as the soles have only slightly worn down, it wasn't bought too long ago. Approximate retail value 430 dollars…'

The shoes weren't moving.

True. That could have been a coincidence regarding the fact that Raito was practically standing near the exit, but still. The heat of his multi-layered attire no longer seemed to bother him as the feeling of the man's gaze caused shivers to move down his spine. He was even shaking a bit.

Gathering the remainders of his courage, he slowly raised his eyes to meet with the dark ones that had been staring at him with such fierce determination.

'A dead man walking.'

A fitting description of Penber's expression. Raito took note of the slight widening of the officers eyes. A lot of people seemed to fear direct eye-contact, especially those who had something to hide. Only the truly gifted and stone-cold liars had the capability to lie with their eyes. Penber clearly didn't belong to either category. At first there had been recognition followed quickly by surprise, then some form of understanding. The doors were opening and the cell-phone was thrust into his hands. Regret? The man and his expensive shoes made their way to the platform, where _he_ collapsed. Panic. Pain. The darkly clad male appeared to be turning towards the doors, regardless of the severe spasms that shook his entire body. Determination. Hatred of some kind. Raito's body shook right along with him. This would be the first time in his life he would actually see a person die. Strange how _different_ it was in real life compared to the gruesome pictures he had previously studied right along with his father. They had never bothered him this much. Not like this. Nothing. Just a blank stare, directed straight to the closing doors…

Upon seeing the face of the now deceased man, Raito's grip on the cell-phone tightened as if trying to snap himself out of the state of shock he was in. He flinched as the electronically modified voice spoke up again.

_"I start with the letter 'e',_

_I end with the letter 'e'._

_I contain only one letter,_

_Yet I am not the letter 'e'!_

_What am I?"_

That answer obvious. It had to be an envelope. The same envelope that had just been left by the FBI-agent. His orders were to retrieve the envelope? Raito started walking without a word and waited until the seat the FBI-agent had been occupying mere moments ago became available again.

He ditched his backpack on top of the envelope in order to subtly retrieve it once he reached his stop. He was going to be sick…

* * *

_The last moments of one named Ray Penber_

_"Place the envelope on the rack above your seat. Be sure to do it when nobody notices you. Head towards the nearest exit, leave the cell-phone there for my 'delivery agent' to pick up. Don't try anything funny though. Remember that he life of your lovely fiancé is at stake here."_

'Damn you Kira! What the HELL is it you want?!'

He felt so goddamn helpless. Years of training with the best the FBI had to offer, years of practise in forms of hand-to-hand-combat…all of it…for nothing.

'I'm _so_ sorry Naomi. Really I am. I should've listened.'

He didn't even know why he was trying anymore. It had been a mere glimpse of a piece of fabric, a piece of fabric that didn't stand out much to begin with. But if he wasn't allowed to see the face of his killer then at least he had a shot at seeing the one closest to it.

They were halfway to the next station already. He was running out of time.

Then suddenly there it was, a hand belonging to a rather young person was clinging onto the bar on his side. But why would a youngster be involved with something as disgusting as a mass-murderer? Perhaps paid to deliver a package, students were often short on cash after all. That was fact no matter what country you went to.

Attached to the hand was a young male with a familiar shade of brown hair. The rest of the face he couldn't quite make out, not unless the teenager actually looked at him. Fortunately he didn't have to wait long for that to happen. Those same puppy dog eyes, that same clear skin.

'Well I'll be. Yagami Raito.'

The young man he had been trailing mere days ago. From the beginning of that damn bus-hijacking his stomach had been doing flip-flops as if trying to warn him of the danger that lied ahead. If only he'd listened when he'd had the chance.

The kid seemed to be frozen in his spot not unlike a dear caught in some headlights.

Was Kira forcing the kid's hands or did he do this voluntarily? For some reason he couldn't see such a bright young man ruin his life like that.

The doors opened. That was his sign to take off. Having found Kira's messenger boy, he might as well hand over the phone directly. He shoved said device into the boy's trembling hands and walked out onto the platform. Suddenly a stabbing sensation exploded from somewhere within his body, he couldn't stop shaking.

'A heart-attack?!'

He needed to know and he needed _him_ to know. The pain was steadily increasing and his vision was fading but he managed to take one more good look at young Yagami Raito. The boy was pale as a sheet and not because of the poor lighting in hat train either. That innocent yet terrified face. God how he hated him and how he hated Kira.

'Don't confuse the message with the messenger, right?'

The pain was gone all of a sudden, like something just flipped a switch.

'I am….so…sorry….Naomi….'

* * *

_The perfectly ruined life of Naomi Misora_

"So I was thinking, beige would be a much better colour for the bride's maids, wouldn't you agree? I mean pink just isn't _you_. You're an FBI-agent for goodness sake!"

"A _former _FBI-agent mom. And why not pink?"

"And you support that decision? It's utterly ridiculous if you ask me, your evaluations alone were proof enough of your skills! By all means those evaluations were better then his to begin with, he was just jealous if you ask me. And pink will make those girls look like cotton candy dear. I know they're not supposed to look as good as the bride – which shouldn't prove to be much of a task remembering your friend Halle – but you don't have to ridicule them in front of an audience."

"I wasn't asking. Come on mother, it does make sense, he doesn't want me to have a job _that_ dangerous. Not to mention we want kids as soon as possible. We can't have both parents running around at all times, someone needs to stay at home and take care of them. I don't mind. Besides, being the one who's actually going to have to deliver those kids I'm going to have to go on pregnancy leave and you know how poor Ray is at keeping the house clean. And I object to the cotton candy comment! I thought they were adorable! Just don't try to pester Halle during the reception mom, you know how she gets."

"And here I thought you were a modern day girl. Where did I go wrong? And yes dear I'll keep the one-liners to myself, it's going to be a boring party though."

"Very funny mom, very funny. Well, I've got to hurry and get dinner ready, Ray should be home in about an hour."

"Alright dear, I'll talk to you later."

"Bye mother."

The woman was incorrigible sometimes, but she loved her mother regardless. Being an old-fashioned young lady from a rather modern-day family they often teased her about her habits. And poor Halle. Halle and herself had been stationed together back in the States, before Naomi quit her job that is. Halle had been devastated to say the least. Perhaps that's why she took on this job in Japan, there had been a need for volunteers for this particular case. Ray – wanting to go to Japan in order to visit Naomi's family to begin with – and her planned on getting married pretty soon. The date was slowly creeping closer as a matter of fact.

Eerie how days seemed to fly by when you're happy. She took a last glance at the beautifully embroiled dress carefully hanging from the door of their dresser before smiling sweetly and diverting her attention to making dinner.

Ray would probably be hungry again. Not that she could blame him, following a bunch of teenagers around all day wasn't exactly what either of them had in mind when it came to exercise. They weren't getting any younger after all.

'Ah, the joys of youth.'

The doorbell was ringing. It was much to early to be Ray though, but then again, he'd surprised her a few times by heading home early and bringing her random gifts like flowers. He was ever the hopeless romantic after all.

"Coming!"

As soon as she opened the door however it wasn't her fiancé standing in front of their home to greet her but an elderly man with a grim expression on his face.

"Can I help you?"

"Are you Naomi Misora?"

"Why yes, is something wrong?"

"I am so sorry ma'am but I was asked to give you this."

Something was _terribly_ wrong. Official looking letters were never a good thing, especially not when delivered by gloomy looking people.

"I am sorry for your loss ma'am. Ray Penber was found dead a few hours ago. We believe it was Kira… I offer you my most sincere condolences."

"………..Ray?"

_TBC_


	8. Chapter 7

Well, I finally managed to find the time to write and upload the new chapter. Things have been crazy around here. My exam period crept up on me and kindly surprised me with over 8 exams, this after finishing my most recent training and after handing in the final results of my project. All in all, I'm going absolutely mental with the insane amount of stress we were put under.

I have finally managed to pick a topic for one of my written projects though. The education I'll be receiving upon passing for my current one has several different courses to follow. I plan on focussing mainly on Internationally Organized Crime. It's always been a favoured topic of mine. Regardless of criminals breaking the law we all have to live with one way or another, I for one do find it highly respectable how they manage to endure constant pressure and such. Just the fact alone that their very existence was denied for a very long time while the signs were more than a little obvious amazes me. I know, odd for someone who wishes to be a detective to actually respect a criminal organization, but still, to respect a (possible) opponent is to take them seriously I suppose.

Also, most of my time has been spent on my side-project. Believe it or not but I'm actually writing a book! This story will revolve around the relationship between a young and famous musician and your average fanboy. And why yes, it is in fact a yaoi story. Perhaps I'll fill you guys in on some more details later on, maybe even add a little excerpt or something. Feel free to ask if interested, if not, no biggie.

Further more, as you may have already read in one of my previous notes, I've been writing several scenes for this fic in advance. I'll attempt to write full chapters in advance as soon as I have the time. This way at least I'll have steady updates rather than this flaky behaviour due to my ever changing time-tables.

And finally, can someone tell I'm finally starting to see the difference between 'then' and 'than'? A dear friend of mine pointed out this repeated error. Proof that constructive criticism really works. I started writing in order to get a better grasp on this language after all. Do inform me if I make more grammatical mistakes and such! I can't improve when I don't receive feedback on what I'm doing wrong after all!

Well, onto the latest chapter!

* * *

_The expectations and disappointments of a certain detective_

"This would be the list of the FBI-agents that were found dead a few hours ago. All received a file containing the information about said agents within Japan. Also, each individual died within 5 hours. Their estimated times of death can be found below their personal information."

"Did you double-check the estimates?"

"Yes, I found them to be quite accurate. I've already made the necessary adjustments."

"Thank you Watari."

"Will that be all L?"

"Yes, please do remember to call me Ryuuzaki from now on."

"Certainly Ryuuzaki."

With that being said, the elderly man took his leave. How many years had it been? L noted the rigid way the man carried himself. Watari had grown old. He remembered when the man had been much younger, he certainly hadn't been blessed with such grey hair at birth after all. No, it had been a rich dark brown that had finished it's transition into whitish grey not all that long ago.

He also recalled Watari used to wear stern looking navy blue suits, somewhere along the way he had switched to a slightly more moderate black. To maintain his regal impression on others he supposed. The vibrant colorations somewhat lost their appeal without the dark contrast, black on the other hand appeared to make more of an impression.

The slight limp had been a quite recent development though, more than likely the early signs of arthritis. The elderly man's movements had been smooth once, like a well oiled machine. There was no denying that Watari wasn't in top form though, had he been any other man the slight limping would have been vastly more noticeable. His old companion still had many years left to give, but regardless of Watari's willingness and L's apprehension to the man's possible replacement they would need to discuss this matter in the near future. An event he was most definitely not looking forward to.

During one of their more recent cases Watari's slightly less than perfect response time almost cost them their lives. Mental chronometry had never really been a topic which spiked L's interest, yet it was a liability that could one day become an actual threat. Being able to directly respond to signs of aggression was one of the first things Watari had taught him when he was just a mere boy. There was no doubt in his mind however that Watari had noticed these minor shortcomings.

L would have approached the topic a lot sooner hadn't it been for his sour mood. Even though his previous case had been solved, the end-results were not to his satisfaction. It was mere logic to consider a criminal as someone else's responsibility after safely delivering them alongside of the hard-earned evidence. After a long and tiresome legal procedure the convicted 37 year old father of three little girls was given a reduced sentence of 10 years in prison. He should have been given 20 years at the very least.

Having grown up in an orphanage, he had heard quite a few horrific tales throughout his childhood. Physical abuse, neglect, desertion, molestation. It had been such stories which eventually sparked his interest in detective work. Child-abuse cases had been the first of many varieties of crime he stared down on a daily basis. Even though he was famed for his peculiar manner of selecting the cases on which he wished to work, children came first. Perhaps it was solely because of his experience with so many other children while growing up or possibly because of a personal trauma which involved his own family – which he doubted whereas he couldn't remember anything about them having been too young at the time – but these cases would forever hold an interest for him.

Those three little girls for example would more than likely never be able to live a normal life. Starting from birth their father had terrorized the little ones into doing his bidding. If you've been told that 'God wished it so' one too many times, you'd actually start believing it. Their self-appointed dictator of a father controlled their each and every thought, made every decision, decided who they would be seeing, who they could or couldn't be friends with. Imagine living a life where your every action is directed towards pleasing a certain individual. It was nothing more than slavery wrapped in a deluding little bow known as 'parenting'.

As if the initial shock of a reduced sentence hadn't stung his pride as a detective somewhat, the headlines he had happened to scan through mere days before taking on the Kira case felt like a proverbial slap in the face. That sick man whom had seemed to get away with a reduced sentence was killed by none other than Kira. The part that hurt most however, he couldn't care less about that certain man's life and a tiny little voice from the darker parts of his mind couldn't help but agree. Perhaps that is why – after stomping out any form of agreement with such a sick individual – he took on this case to begin with. That convicted criminal had been _his_ trophy and somehow Kira had managed to get away with taking what was his. He couldn't help but feel territorial on the matter.

On the bright side however, due to the shocking nature of that certain case, it had not been revealed to the public. Specifically the case had been kept under wraps almost completely. The few details that had been leaked to the public were enough to convince them that it had been a mere case of child-abuse rather than the true severity of the matter. The man's name and face however had not been released. Those 'privileges' had been given to government officials and a few police stations across the world. This had left him with two possible theories to consider. Either Kira was truly some sort of divine being or he had somehow been able to acquire this information from an inside source. Several victims later however it became clear that most – if not all – non-public cases were being tracked through the virtual network shared by the Japanese police. But of course he had found no case of external interference, which would mean that the computer used for these well covered break-ins had the proper authorization. Which on it's own meant that this was an inside job. Adding a more recent discovery – the time schedule in which Kira seemed to operate – he was approximately 80 percent sure that their megalomaniac was a young individual. A _very_ young individual.

No matter how young this 'Kira' was however, he would most certainly be brought to justice. There would be no mercy, Kira would be put down as ruthlessly and cold-hearted as he had treated criminals himself. The world leaders wouldn't stand for anything less after all. But Kira's inevitable fate would have to be postponed, the topic at hand took priority. He would not have possible security leaks jeopardize this case. L had already taken the necessary precautions, root out the less productive individuals and get rid of said dead-weight. Currently the man known as Yagami Soichiro – or something to that degree, he never really did interest himself in those involved with his cases impressions could and would be made afterwards – was making a statement, one that would without a doubt get rid of the less motivated members of the investigation team.

At five o'clock today those more interested in keeping their lives rather than bringing in a dangerous psychopath would simply quit. This would leave him with motivated members who were willing to risk their lives to bring down the elusive Kira. L would then be able to stop the communications concerning the Kira-case towards anyone not involved. Should the classified information continue to leak out, the number of possible suspects would be narrowed down quite effectively. At the rate he was going, Kira would be apprehended soon enough. So far this case had proven to be quite a disappointment, it had failed to live up to his expectations. Surely a mass-murderer whom possessed the capability to strike from any distance without as much as leaving behind a trace of evidence other than a corpse should have been a lot harder to pin down. Such a shame really, this case had seemed to have so much potential. At least the discovery of Kira's murder weapon would be worth the effort, or so he hoped.

* * *

_The musings from within the dark circles_

An old abandoned church. Such a perfect location to start a new religion – no, not a religion, a new world order. A world order where he and his chosen ones would reign supreme. He would define the meaning of justice once and for all and his precious chosen would carry out his will. He would be God. Kira, the god of Justice and punisher of the wicked.

So far their progress had been remarkable, the dark recesses of the human mind had caught onto the idea a lot sooner than he had expected. It only goaded him on, it absolutely thrilled him that there were so many potential 'believers' just waiting for someone to come along and lead them to better times. A time where crime would be a thing of the past. Even the sceptics and those who would seek him to pay for these so-called 'crimes' would eventually see it his way. He would give them no choice after all. The common man was swaying more and more in his favour after all, they had even provided him with a name.

Though the initial sting of being referred to as a 'killer' had been quite a blow to his pride, his perseverance had managed to erase the bad aftertaste almost entirely and give this given name a positive meaning. He was openly revered after all.

The one who had surprised him most however was young Yagami Raito. This brilliant young man with his stunning features had caught his attention a while ago. With parents eagerly 'promoting' their little prodigy, there was only so little time before someone with an eye for potentials acted upon these rumours. A quick dive into the boy's records and a little investigation in the boy's day to day activities had been more than enough to catch his interest. Not only that, during this investigation period yet another loyal follower had joined his quest. This one had quite a lot of potential as well, obviously this individual was not as brilliant as Raito-kun, but what this little lamb lacked in intelligence it made up for in loyalty. Such an eager to please personality was easily swayed after all. No, Yagami Raito was most definitely not a willing puppet. But as long as he continued to hold the strings, Yagami would move in any direction he commanded. Funny how such an intelligent young man could be ruled over so easily when playing with his emotions. It was all a matter of having the proper leverage.

L would be dead soon enough and with that roadblock out of the way the path beyond would be so much smoother. His only other risk-factor would be Raito-kun, but with the way things were going it would be a minor risk. A plan had been set in motion to corner the young man and to strategically cut off all escape routes. Yagami Raito would eventually either turn to his god for protection or die along the way. It was perfect.

"Sir, we have an update on the situation in Japan."

Ah, his new recruit finally been able to obtain the requested information. Such a good little lamb really.

* * *

_The eager pawns of fierce determination_

The hours had passed in what seemed to be a snail's pace. It was almost as if 5 o'clock was an eternity away, yet as many things in life it was inevitable that the clock would eventually strike 5.

Yagami Soichiro neatly stacked the papers and placed them on the left side of his desk. He realized he was unintentionally stalling for time, the normally calm and collected man had been forced to make some serious decisions. Decisions that could eventually take shape in death if he didn't proceed with caution. He would be leaving behind a family, he would leave his wife to raise his children without support. Yet even the severity of the possible consequences could not sway him from his initial decision. He would do his job and bring in Kira, no matter what.

Sachiko would be well taken care of should things go awry. He knew that she would be receiving large amounts of money and side benefits should he die during this investigation. His dear wife had practically raised those children on her own to begin with, with him being so devoted to his duties as an enforcer of the law. Sayu would need guidance that Sachiko was more than capable of giving. His son had practically raised himself, that child had always been so mature after all. He could cook for himself as his mother had taught him at an early age, he was well-instructed on cleaning matters in and around the house and his future career as a lawyer would provide him with the funds to live a healthy life. He knew of his son's wishes to become a police officer yet investigations like this particular case furthered Soichiro's determination to keep his son out of this business. He would make certain that Raito would live a life amongst books the boy seemed to love so much rather than guns and the danger that almost automatically came along with those damned devices. He and Sachiko has snubbed that initial spark of interest out at each and every bend. They had subtly replaced those works of fictional detective rubbish with law books, they were even paying for the full tuition at Touou University in advance to make absolutely sure Raito would not stray from this path. It was a hefty sum indeed, but it would be worth it in the end.

Suddenly angry with himself about dawdling while he should have been getting ready for his 5 o'clock meeting with the remaining members, Soichiro got up and locked his office on his way out. The conference room where the remaining members were to gather was pretty close to said office, a fact he had always been pleased about. One would be able to shift more work when less time was spent on getting from one location to another. While holding a steady grip on the necessary files, he looked at his watch. He was right on time, as always. Soichiro opened the heavy wooden door and was immediately met with disappointment. Out of the dozens of capable police officers originally assigned to this case, only 5 men were actually willing to risk their lives for the sake of justice?

Somehow he was embarrassed that Watari and L were present to see this downright humiliating display. The ever eager Matsuda was present of course. There was no way the young man would miss out on the opportunity of a lifetime. The reliable Aizawa was fortunately present as well, they would most definitely need his clear thinking process on this mind boggling case. The other three he was less familiar with, but if they were willing to stare down Kira himself, he doubted they were any less devoted than himself. Was this what L had been waiting for then? A tight packed unit totally committed to the cause? He guessed he would find out right now, the laptop Watari had dutifully brought with him was already boldly emitting a bright glow. L was already present and accounted for.

Yagami Soichiro locked the door behind him, for 5 o'clock had come and gone after all. There was no turning back, not from this chosen path.

* * *

_The worries of young Yagami Raito_

For the umpteenth time Raito was mentally retracing his every step. His strategy would need to be absolutely perfect in order to minimize the risk of possibly being found out while taking in account Kira's strenuous demands. Lind L. Tailor's death should have been avoided, that one foolish move had given his opponents more than just a little valuable information.

His mind was going in circles. At this rate he would either drive himself crazy with worry or he'd end up making a mistake that could prove to be the final nail to his coffin. The latter made him worry even more.

The worst part was that he was completely on his own. Kira and his followers might be considered to be allies in this situation, yet Kira had already proven to be nothing more than a risk factor. Also the leverage that damned psycho had over him – which said megalomaniac eagerly reminded him of whenever he saw fit – was potentially dangerous enough to cloud his mind and cause him to make rash decisions. His own emotions could be used against him if he wasn't careful enough.

Ryuuk was little to no help at all and Kira had clearly instructed him not to approach anyone on his own accord, otherwise the consequences would be severe. Luckily Yagami Raito had always been the type of person to thrive under pressure, he simply needed to remind himself of this fact every once in a while. Worrying would do nothing more than provide him with an unhealthy dose of stress.

Sighing loudly he turned off the lamp on his nightstand and buried himself beneath the reassuring warmth of his blankets. His conscience had been driving him up the wall for days now, funny how his sleeping habits were hardly affected at all. Was he really turning out to be that ruthless?

Not that it could be helped, someone else's life was on the line. And he would rescue this person no matter what.

TBC


	9. Chapter 8

Uwaaaaaaaaaa, I'm exhausted. Not only do exams seemingly keep popping up out of nowhere, school/group projects apparently enjoy adding to an already stressful school year. Oh! And did I mention I nearly broke my foot falling down the stairs in a hurry to get to school? It turned out to be a bad case of bruising which took about three weeks to heal properly. Side note, I have just officially rewritten this chapter 25 times ladies and gentlemen and yet I'm still not happy with it! This has got to be a new record when it comes to writer's block! Nice to see my creativity is sucked up entirely on 80 page essays and reports! Go me! Can anyone tell these rants are getting longer? Also, my hatred for Windows has managed to raise itself to new heights, life lesson learned, never EVER update vital parts of your computer through the Microsoft update service. Or at least not if you want your computer to have a long and healthy life. Always update your drivers through the official companies! I learned this lesson through 12 days of hell, trying to fix what Microsoft ended up breaking. To the older readers, remember what working with DOS was like? I do now and I can tell you it was one refresher course I could have done without. That and the 8-bit colour scheme on a 800 by 600 pixels nightmare!

In fact I can truthfully say the only good things to have happened to me as of late would be my initial graduation (propedeuse), meaning I completed half of my school. Confusing, I know. And I met a really nice fellow fangirl within my own country no less! Yes, this is a rare occurrence where I live. Also, she manages to shift my ass in gear when it comes to writing so give her some thanks and be sure to read her fanfics! They rule! Go visit her profile (Moondalian) to check them out!

For those who were interested in my novel (which is slowly but steadily taking shape), the original design for it's cover has been uploaded to deviantart. Feel free to check out the link I'll put up in my profile after posting this chapter.

Thank you for the lovely reviews! To those who find the story boring so far, I do apologise. Things should pick up soon enough, right around the time when I get the basic Death Note plot out of the way, it's more or less crucial though to see the subtle differences. Remember, there's tiny little clues hidden within this fic in order to figure out some of the questions (almost) everyone has been asking! They'll be slow at first and will gradually pick up in difficulty! For those who haven't noticed, no worries, the later chapters will eventually reveal everything, wouldn't be much of a story if it didn't have a proper ending now would it?

Now enough of my ranting and onto the latest chapter (regardless of it being like a year late)!

* * *

Chapter 8 "_Risk factors_"

* * *

_Being shot in a proverbial manner_

Matsuda could hardly contain his excitement! He would be meeting the one and only L today! If only the other rookies back at the office knew about this! Of course the only downside to this thing was that even if he did get to meet L, he wasn't allowed to tell anyone due to safety precautions. Such a shame really, but Matsuda was sure that meeting this guy would be worth it. He was a living legend after all, like a really real James Bond or something like that! L was by all means the most realistic embodiment of a genuine international man of mystery!

He could picture it already, an expensive suit, nicely polished shoes, neatly kept hair, the works! The minute they walked up to that hotel room a gorgeous woman – or two – would just be on their way out while giggling madly. Or perhaps there was an armed escort standing just outside the door! A man _this_ influential would certainly need protection right?

"Gentlemen, he will see you now."

The ever faithful Watari was waiting for them at the entrance to the Teito hotel L was currently staying in. It was kind of funny how Watari somehow reminded him of that old butler guy in that one American series with the bat-thingy hero. Perhaps L was more like that – not some guy wearing a bat outfit mind you, but like this really brilliant detective one day and this serious businessman the other. Maybe he even had this really cool car! The type that could drive underwater and all! It was safe to say that a man who stayed in none other than the Teito hotel had enough money to buy such an awesome car. It was a gorgeous hotel to say the least. Shiny marble and expensive looking tapestry seemingly covered every wall, the crystal chandeliers emitted a bright yet gentle glow which caused the golden accessories to shine brilliantly. Matsuda somehow expected a fountain to be around here somewhere! Well, to complete the picture and all…

The doors to the elevator finally opened. At first he'd been a bit sceptic about the entire group being able to fit into what appeared to be a really tiny elevator from the outside, but clearly he had been mistaken. The inside was huge! Fine polished wood and red velvet all around! He noticed that Watari pressed what appeared to be the top-most button. They were going to the penthouse? This L person really did know how to live!

The balloon of excitement that had somehow managed to seek temporary refuge alongside of the contents of his stomach seemed to have grown quite a few inches when they finally did get out of their golden death trap. Must've been because he hadn't been doing his breathing exercises. He had never liked elevators much, when he was little he had ended up getting stuck in one for several hours. Quite a traumatising experience at such a young age, or at least that's what the doctor said after he had finally been freed and examined. Of course that elevator hadn't nearly been as nice as this one, or as big! He probably wouldn't have been as much as a nervous wreck had that elevator in the past been bigger, not that that experience bothered him anymore nowadays, he was just a little more jumpy than usual people. Especially around small closed off spaces. The doctor had advised simple exercises to maintain control of his breathing. Nothing to worry about, really…

This certainly seemed to be a long hallway though and so far they hadn't come across a single guard, the expected beautiful women weren't exactly pawing at the door either. As a matter of fact, considering the overall appearance of the hotel this floor seemed to be lacking the same expensive decorations that were so obviously present throughout the rest of the building. Why not here?

They eventually arrived and stood in front of the surprisingly simple looking wooden door. Watari knocked on said door – probably some sort of code to let L know they had arrived – yet no answer was given. Watari didn't seem to be in the least bit worried though and without further a due slid a card through the slot on the left side of the door. After a confirmative beep and a green light being activated as a sign of approval, the final obstacle keeping the group from meeting the century's greatest detective face to face opened. Matsuda felt like his stomach was about to burst when they finally walked into the warmly yet modern furnished room.

Though as with all grand expectations, sometimes the actual image simply doesn't live up. Sadly such was the case and Matsuda's little balloon of excitement deflated like a soufflé or some kind of meringue. Sarcastically enough, Matsuda believed to actually spot some meringue right there on a large dining table in the far left corner of the room.

'Is that a monkey?'

* * *

As expected good old reliable Yagami Soichiro stepped up to the plate and introduced himself, absolutely nothing could scare that man! Some day Matsuda hoped to be just as tough as him! Taking his role model's example he cheerfully introduced himself along with the others. No reason they couldn't be friendly to the guy, right?

The monkey however suddenly moved in an attempt to….point at something? Was there something on his shirt? No way! He had double-checked in the mirror before heading out today!

"BANG!"

'What in the world?'

* * *

_Raito's room of remembrance_

In the mean time Raito was busy doing some calculations, no, for once not doing calculations on account of an assignment, but actually 100 percent willingly. Though he had all but vowed to himself to stop worrying about recent events, his father's mysterious outings and his limited and often unstable communicative relationship to his family had him on edge. His father above anything adored his family, his wife was his steady centre and his daughter his pride and joy. And Raito? Well, the man was trying his very best to do what he felt was right, one does not usually go this far if they didn't love a person, right?

He wasn't absolutely sure, but the indications were most definitely clear. His father was working on the Kira case, the basic clues – like the ungodly work hours and secretive nature of his investigation – and to top it of Raito's gut instinct were all indicating towards this newly risen hazard. Would he be able to avoid harming his father if said man intervened? What if he was ordered to get rid of the entire investigation team rather than just L? If presented with the choice of saving his father's life and saving the life of the one he loved, who would he choose? Though both in completely different ways and for entirely different reasons, both had managed to at one time – severely – hurt him one way or another. It was impossible to just pick a favourite in such a delicate situation.

"Please don't leave me alone, not again. It's not as if I wanted this to happen!"

Delicate indeed…

Why was he going so far for a person who had hurt him so badly? Hurt him and then left him never to hear from that person again? Yagami Raito had always been a lover of logic and reasoning, pitiful emotions like love did not under any circumstance fit into his well organised life. But if it didn't belong and therefore should not exist, why did it in the end still managed to creep up to him and end up hurting him so badly? Why was he silently hoping that his lover had been unable to contact him due to captivity rather than deciding not to do so by choice.

He was pathetic…

The shinigami hovering directly over his bed seemed to giggle – which was truthfully morbid beyond all reason – well at least he was keeping Ryuuk entertained. It seemed he was good for something after all, other than being either stepped on or being abandoned.

Somehow it seemed like his usual calm and rational thoughts had left him alongside of that very person he was trying so hard to save. And for what? To be left behind again?

"Where are you?"

Raito suddenly resumed his furious scribbling on the piece of paper with renewed vigour as if uttering those three words had somehow given him the energy to get back on track. Giving in to such depressing thoughts would in the end only slow him down so he would be having none of that. He was done standing by and waiting around for even the slightest sign of life, he would be the aggressive one this time and once he got his lover out of whatever hole they had managed to hide him in he would find a way to take Kira down for good…

* * *

_Plotting, meeting secretly and conspiring. It's all the same thing really_

So perhaps a monkey hadn't been the best of comparisons. One couldn't really blame Matsuda though, with the man's odd appearance and tendency to scratch his ankle with his toes it was simply the first thing to come to mind. Or at least that's what he kept telling himself. He thanked whatever god out there that he hadn't voiced his thoughts out loud. One did not simply insult this century's greatest detective without some serious repercussions.

Still. Even if the man had wanted to make a point about the importance of limiting the use of their real names, wasn't there a more _polite_ way to go about it? Randomly pretending to shoot people was bad enough on it's own, randomly trying to shoot people who are trained to respond to violence and carry very _real_ guns was downright suicidal. After that rather morbid performance, the sickly looking man shuffled towards what seemed to be the living room. Giving Yagami-san credit where it was due, he turned to his superior to wait for instructions. Yagami-san had – as expected – turned towards Watari as if non-verbally requesting confirmation that the odd individual was indeed L. The elderly man simply returned the look with a knowing smile and nodded, at least _someone_ was amused.

The others moved towards the living room where L had already chosen his desired perch. Matsuda thought of the word 'perch' specifically because the pale and fragile looking individual had positioned himself in such a manner that Matsuda was somehow reminded of a parrot. Or an owl for that matter, especially with those dark rimmed protruding eyes and all…

"If you would be so kind as to turn off your cell phones and place them on this table so we can get right down to business."

Matsuda sent another doubtful look towards Yagami-san, he vaguely noticed he wasn't the only one.

"Does he think we plan on recording this conversation or something?"

That was Aizawa-san for you, straight to the point and always blatantly honest, albeit a bit rude and forceful from time to time.

"No, I merely do not wish our meeting to be disturbed by possible incoming calls. I am also going to have to request that due to safety precautions you must refrain from calling me 'L', you shall call me 'Ryuuzaki' instead."

The men sat down wearily, Matsuda somehow felt as if a camera crew for some candid camera show was going to pop out of a hidden corner and yell 'surprise'. But that might just be him…

"I have gathered you all here today because quite frankly you are the only ones I trust when it comes to handling this delicate case. I can assume you all are aware there is to be no contact with your co-workers during the proceedings of this investigation."

L noted Matsuda nodding eagerly. Out of all the men gathered here this 'Matsuda' individual could be considered to be the biggest risk factor due to his rather unprofessional behaviour. He would have to keep an eye on that one.

Yagami Soichiro on the other hand was pleased to see his previous assumptions about L and Watari shrinking down the team in order to increase it's efficiency were entirely correct. The more people involved in such a delicate procedure, the higher the risks. And with their lives on the line they couldn't slip up for even a moment.

"Hirokazu Ukita, Kanzo Mogi, Shuichi Aizawa, Touta Matsuda and Soichiro Yagami. You will be given fake badges in order to protect your identity. Please refrain from using your real name from now on unless given absolutely no other choice. We shall now proceed with a briefing regarding to my latest findings."

L certainly hoped these man were up to the task. Though he would risk his life willingly to bring the Kira case to a close, it didn't mean he felt like ending up in an early grave…

* * *

_A bad case of karma_

As luck would have it, another risk factor had been thrown in his general direction. A risk factor in the shape of an intelligent young woman whom had introduced herself as Maki Shouko. It was a false name. The last name was obviously derived from the word Shoukou, the Japanese word for 'evidence'. Maki, a name which could be translated into multiple meanings, the more logical ones in this case would be 'ma', "true; reality" and 'ka' "chronicle; account; narrative".

Not only did the name sound overly fake, it also seemed as if this woman was hiding something with that overly cheerful tone of hers. Without a doubt she was investigating the Kira case on her own and had come to the correct conclusions about Kira needing someone's name and face to kill. In other words she was dangerous.

And to think it had all started with his little sister attempting to shirk her duties. Their mother had asked Sayu to bring her dad some freshly washed clothes and Sayu had whined and complained – as usual when something interrupted her favourite soap series, the one with that actor, Ryuuga Hideki – so Raito had been the loving older brother and had offered to go in her stead. After having spent the entire evening and a large part of the night going over each and every minor detail of recent events he needed some fresh air anyway. Since he had been unable to reach his father through the use of his cell phone – which was a bit strange but not unusual – he had decided to drop off the clothes at the front desk and simply leaving a message there. His father would no doubt pick up the clothes eventually.

Upon arriving at the headquarters however he noticed a young woman making quite a ruckus about wanting to see someone involved with the Kira investigation team while giving the guy at the front desk quite a hard time.

"Fine. I'll see if I can reach the investigation team one more time…"

"Please do, it's important I get this information concerning Kira to L."

This was what eventually piqued his interest. What vital information could she possibly possess that would cause her to walk into a building and start giving out orders? Determined to find out what this 'vital information' was, Raito walked forward nonchalantly and calmly handed the paper bag containing his father's clothes to the other man behind the desk.

"I'm detective Yagami Soichiro's son, Raito. I brought him some clothes, but since I can't seem to reach him I was wondering if you could take these for me?"

The guy at the desk looked at him funnily before suddenly speaking out with a cheerful voice.

"Raito-kun? It's been such a long time! I hardly recognised you! How have you been?"

"I-I'm sorry…but you are?"

Who in the world was this guy? Certainly they had to be acquaintances at the least, why else would the man be so forward all of a sudden. Raito was unsure if he should feel insulted at the fact the man was referring to him by his front name…

"You don't remember? We met during one of the previous investigations you helped with. Remember? The one with the murder and the insurance money you helped us solve a while back. I was working on that case at the time, you really helped us out back then."

By all means he had helped out on several cases and a murder concerning insurance money wasn't all that rare. Did they expect him to keep track of every case he solved or did the guy think that a teenager helping out on a case was such a rare occurrence that he had treasured every single moment of every investigation he had ever been allowed to help with. In that case the guy was dead wrong.

"Is that right? In that case I feel like I should apologise."

"No, it's alright. You were practically two heads shorter than you are now, you probably made more of a lasting impression on me than the other way around. It's not often I get to work with such a young colleague after all."

The man took the bag from him and placed it on one of the shelves below the counter.

"So are you helping out on your father's new case as well?"

"I'll try to help him as much as I can, but you know him. Studies before criminal investigation."

The man laughed softly and his eyes glinted with amusement. How _nice_ that Raito's life was a source of amusement to whoever the hell this was.

"He's still hammering on about that? Too bad, you would have made a great detective. I'll bet you'd be able to outsmart L any day of the week."

Even nicer how people considered his father to be the law within the Yagami household, as if Raito's opinion on this certain topic didn't matter at all. One would think ones future career would normally be decided by the individual in question. Raito chose not to give the matter any further attention and instead focused his attention on the woman beside him, subtly of course. That one comment seemed to have managed to catch the attention of said woman. This had potential…

"I guess we'd have to see that. I mean he is the greatest detective in the world after all."

The other desk attendant suddenly spoke up. And as expected he had been unable to get in touch with HQ. As if he'd be able to, by all means his father was in charge of this investigation – not counting L of course – and if one thing could be said about Yagami Soichiro it was that family always came first. If his own son had been unable to reach him a mere five minutes ago it would mean whatever he was doing had to be of the utmost importance.

"No for the last time, I will not leave a message! It's important I speak to someone on the investigation team immediately!"

She was driving the poor guy insane. Couldn't she see he was at his wits end already?

"Excuse me for the intrusion but might I be of assistance? My father is on the investigation team you mentioned, he seems to be unavailable at the moment but I'm sure he'll check his voicemail and get in touch with me soon. You'd be able to speak to him then."

She had looked somewhat apprehensive at the time, not that he could blame her. Having Kira as an enemy was dangerous enough as it is, not knowing who Kira was only served to make all people surrounding you seem suspicious. Regardless of her initial suspicion he had managed to get her out of the station which had eventually lead to his current predicament. She had told him she had realised Kira could kill in more ways than just giving people a heart-attack and she had come to the conclusion Ray Penber's death had been staged from the beginning. She also had given him a fake name and therefore he was unable to use the Death Note. Without knowing the woman's real identity he couldn't use said item and he couldn't very well ask her about it either. She was suspicious about him from the very beginning and suddenly questioning about her fake name would simply raise questions he wasn't willing nor prepared to answer. Meaning he would need a new strategy.

Ryuuku was chuckling somewhere from behind them, no doubt the shinigami found his situation to be hilarious. Especially since Ryuuku was more than capable of seeing the woman's real name and Raito wasn't. Oh hell, he was just going to have to improvise. He had managed to get himself out of tighter situations through improvising, for now he would simply have to grin and bear with it. Literally.

He made himself appear as sweet and innocent as possible, cringing internally at how disgustingly 'happy-go-lucky' it made him sound. One overly cheerful idiot was quite enough mind you, the world did not need another Matsuda Touta.

Regardless of the growing nauseous feeling within the pit of his stomach he started to spout some nonsense about being a part of the investigation team and working under L directly. Throughout the entire conversation she had betrayed her feelings when it came to the world renowned private detective, she obviously held him in high regard. Those feelings meant weakness and he had taken advantage of that. The second he offered to talk to L in order to make her a part of the investigation team he knew he had her cornered. He offhandedly took a note of her mentioning having worked with L before.

"To be truthfully…I haven't been entirely honest with you."

And there it came. She had made it entirely too easy. For some reason the nauseous feeling got worse.

"My name isn't Maki Shouko."

It felt as if his throat was about to constrict or clog itself with bile. Somehow he managed to carry on as if everything was fine.

"That's even more amazing. How you managed to figure all of this out by yourself. It's only natural to be careful with Kira still out there on the prowl, but with you joining us I have no doubt we'll catch him in no time!"

As expected she took the bait and handed him the tool of her very own destruction. Ryuuku's incessant laughter had in the mean time reached new heights, the shinigami truly sounded insane.

It took everything in Raito's power to grab the piece of Death Note in his pocket and write down the woman's name and cause of death while pretending to be taking notes. Naomi Misora. A name he would be able never forget. Her dark eyes went blank and as he asked her a question to make sure the Death Note was effective, she turned around and walked away. He had done it. He had for the first time killed an innocent without Kira having to order him to do so and upon realising this he figured out where the nauseous feeling was coming from as well. His conscience.

Raito proceeded to walk to a nearby alleyway in a daze without paying attention to the still cackling shinigami and promptly threw up…

TBC


End file.
